THE “SHOWN TO THE CHILDREN” SERIES
1. BEASTS
With 48 Coloured Plates by PERCY J. BILLINGHURST. Letterpress by LENA
DALKEITH.
2. FLOWERS
With 48 Coloured Plates showing 150 flowers, by JANET HARVEY KELMAN.
Letterpress by C. E. SMITH.
3. BIRDS
With 48 Coloured Plates by M. K. C. SCOTT. Letterpress by J. A.
HENDERSON.
4. THE SEA-SHORE
With 48 Coloured Plates by JANET HARVEY KELMAN. Described by REV.
THEODORE WOOD.
THE “SHOWN TO THE CHILDREN” SERIES
EDITED BY LOUEY CHISHOLM
THE SEA-SHORE
[Illustration: PLATE I
1. and 2. THE GOBIES.]
The Sea-Shore
SHOWN TO THE CHILDREN
BY
JANET HARVEY KELMAN
DESCRIBED BY
REV. THEODORE WOOD
[Illustration]
FORTY-EIGHT COLOURED PICTURES
LONDON & EDINBURGH
T. C. & E. C. JACK
Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & CO.
At the Ballantyne Press, Edinburgh
LIST OF SEA-SHORE WONDERS
CHAPTER I
FISHES
Plate
I. 1. and 2. The Gobies
II. 1. The Smooth Blenny
” 2. The Spotted Gunnell
III. 1. The Dragonet
” 2. The Pipe-Fish
IV. The Flounder
V. The Plaice
VI. 1. The Egg of the Skate
” 2. The Egg of the Dog-Fish
CHAPTER II
THE MOLLUSCS
Plate
VII. 1. and 2. The Cuttle
VIII. 1. and 2. The Whelk
IX. 1. The Dog Whelk
” 2. The Sting Winkle
” 3. The Periwinkle
” 4. The Dog Periwinkle
” 5. The Purpura
X. 1. The Sea Snail
” 2. The Wentletrap
XI. 1. The Common Limpet
” 2. The Key-Hole Limpet
” 3. The Smooth Limpet
” 4. The Cup and Saucer Limpet
XII. 1. The Painted Top
” 2. The Grey Top
” 3. The Cowry
” 4. The Chiton
CHAPTER III
BIVALVE MOLLUSCS
Plate
XIII. 1. The Oyster
” 2. The Saddle Oyster
” 3. The Cockle
XIV. 1. Inside of Mussel Shell
” 2. The Mussel
” 3. The Horse Mussel
XV. 1. The Variable Scallop
” 2. The Radiated Scallop
” 3. The Hunchback Scallop
XVI. 1. Inside of Sunset Shell
” 2. The Sunset Shell
” 3. The Gaper
XVII. 1. The Piddock
” 2. and 3. The Little Piddock
XVIII. 1. The Shipworm
” 2. Wood bored by Shipworm
XIX. 1. The Razor
” 2. Top of Razor from Front
” 3. The Sabre Razor
XX. The Pinna
CHAPTER IV
CRABS
How Crabs Grow
How Crabs See
How Crabs Hear and Smell
Plate
XXI. The Edible Crab
XXII. 1. The Shore or Green Crab
” 2. The Fiddler Crab
XXIII. 1. The Masked Crab
” 2. The Thornback Crab
XXIV. 1. The Long-Beaked Spider Crab
” 2. The Four-Horned Spider Crab
XXV. 1. The Pea Crab
” 2. and 2 A. Crab Caterpillars
” 3. and 3 A. Crab Chrysalids
XXVI. 1. The Hermit Crab in Whelk Shell
” 2. The Hermit Crab out of Shell
CHAPTER V
LOBSTERS AND THEIR KIN
Plate
XXVII. The Lobster
XXVIII. 1. The Prawn
” 2. The Æsop Prawn
” 3. The Shrimp
XXIX. 1. and 1 A. The Sandhopper
” 2. and 2 A. The Sand Screw
XXX. 1. Acorn Shells
” 2. Ship Barnacles
CHAPTER VI
THE SEA WORMS
Plate
XXXI. 1. The Sea Mouse
” 2. The Sabella
XXXII. 1. and 2. The Serpula
XXXIII. 1. The Terebella
” 2. The Lug Worm
XXXIV. 1. The Nemertes
” 2. The Nereis
CHAPTER VII
STARFISHES
Plate
Starfishes’ Legs
XXXV. 1. The Five-Finger Starfish
” 2. The Bird’s-Foot Starfish
XXXVI. The Sun Starfish
XXXVII. The Brittle Starfish
XXXVIII. 1. The Sea Urchin without Spines
” 2. The Sea Urchin with spines
CHAPTER VIII
SEA CUCUMBERS AND JELLYFISHES
Plate
XXXIX. 1. The Sea Cucumber
” 2. The Common Jellyfish
XL. 1. The Stinging Jellyfish
” 2. The Sea Acorn
CHAPTER IX
SEA ANEMONES
How Sea Anemones are formed
Plate
XLI. 1. The Smooth Anemone
” 2. The Daisy Anemone
XLII. 1. The Thick-Armed Anemone
” 2. The Snake-Locked Anemone
CHAPTER X
MADREPORES, CORALS, AND SPONGES
Plate
XLIII. 1. The Madrepore
” 2. The Sea Finger
XLIV. 1. The Tuft Coral
” 2. The Bread-Crumb Sponge
” 3. The Grantia Sponge
” 4. Foraminifera
CHAPTER XI
SEA-WEED
Plate
XLV. 1. The Bladder-Wrack
” 2. The Oar Weed
XLVI. 1. Coralline
” 2. Dulse
XLVII. 1. The Green Laver
” 2. The Purple Laver
XLVIII. 1. Carrageen Moss
” 2. The Sea Grass
” 3. The Grass Wrack
ABOUT THIS BOOK
This book is intended to help little boys and girls to use their eyes.
The world is full of beautiful sights and wonderful creatures; and
some of the most beautiful and wonderful of all are to be seen on the
sea-shore. So I have tried to tell boys and girls, who are fortunate
enough to visit the sea-side, what they ought to look for, and where
they ought to look for it. And I can assure them that if they will only
take the trouble to see what there is to be seen, they will find fresh
objects of interest as often as they go down upon the beach, and that a
sea-side holiday will prove ten times as delightful as ever they found
it before.
THEODORE WOOD.
THE SEA-SHORE
CHAPTER I
FISHES
PLATE I
THE GOBIES (1 and 2)
In this little book I want to talk to you about some of the strange
and wonderful creatures which you may find when you go to stay by the
sea-side. And first of all I should like to tell you something about
the fishes. A great many of these, of course, live in the deep water,
where you cannot catch them, or even see them. But there are a good
many others which you can find very easily indeed. All that you have to
do is to wait until the tide has gone out, and then to go down and look
into the pools which are left among the rocks. There you are almost
sure to see a number of shadowy forms darting to and fro through the
water. Some of these, most likely, will be shrimps and prawns, which
are always very common in the rock-pools; but the others will be tiny
fishes. And even if you have not got a net you can often catch them
quite easily. Just bale out the water with a small pail, or even with
your hands, until the pool is nearly empty, and you will be able to
seize them with your fingers.
Among the fishes which can be caught in this manner are several kinds
of Gobies. You can easily tell them from all other fishes by the
curious way in which their lower fins are made. These fins are placed
close together, so as to form a kind of cup-shaped sucker or soft pad,
by means of which the little creatures can cling so firmly to the rocks
that even a wave will not wash them from their hold. And if you take
them home alive and put them into a basin full of sea-water, they will
cling to the sides and stare at you in a most inquisitive way! Owing to
this habit the gobies are often called “rock-fishes.”
The commonest of these odd little creatures, perhaps, is the Black
Goby. But the Spotted Goby is very nearly as plentiful. It is rather
hard to see, because it is coloured just like the sand at the bottom
of the pool, on which it is very fond of resting. But if you scoop out
the water from a shallow pool you will often find, not only the goby,
but its nest as well. For this little fish makes a most curious nest in
which to place its eggs. First of all it hunts about till it has found
half an empty cockle-shell, lying at the bottom of the water with its
hollow side downwards. It then scoops out the sand from underneath it,
so as to form a little chamber about as big as a marble. You would
think that the walls of this chamber would very soon fall in, wouldn’t
you? But the fish smears them all over with a kind of slime, which very
soon sets and becomes quite hard, just like cement. It then makes a
tunnel leading into the chamber by means of which it can go in and out;
and last of all it covers the cockle-shell all over with loose sand.
So unless you look very carefully at the bottom of the pool you will
not see the nest at all. But if you notice a kind of lump in the sand,
and find that half a cockle-shell is buried underneath it, you may be
pretty well sure that you have discovered the home of a spotted goby.
This nest is always made by the male fish, and when it is quite
finished his mate comes and lays her eggs in it. Then for eight or nine
days he remains on guard outside the entrance, so as to prevent any
hungry creature from finding its way in and devouring them. At the end
of that time the eggs hatch, and a number of baby gobies make their
appearance; and although they are so small that one can hardly see
them, the father-fish seems to think that they are quite able to take
care of themselves. So he swims away, and leaves them to their fate.
If you catch these little fishes with your fingers you must be careful
how you handle them, for they have rather long and sharp teeth, and can
give quite a smart bite.
PLATE II
THE SMOOTH BLENNY (1)
This fish, which is sometimes known as the Shanny, is also very common
in the rock-pools. But you are not likely to see it unless you bale out
all the water from a pool, for it always hides during the daytime in
the crannies among the rocks, or underneath sea-weeds. Or it will even
burrow down into the sandy mud beneath a big stone, so that you will
not find it at all unless you dig for it.
When it is fully grown this fish is about five inches long, and it is
quite a remarkable creature in several different ways.
In the first place, it varies a great deal in colour. Sometimes it is
partly green and partly yellow, sometimes it is olive brown nearly all
over, and sometimes it is almost black. But you can always tell it by
the ring of bright crimson which surrounds each eye.
In the second place, it can remain for quite a long time out of the
water. Some fishes die almost at once if they are taken out of the sea.
But a blenny can live on dry land for twenty-four hours at least. The
reason is that its gills are made in such a way that they remain damp
for a long while after the fish leaves the water; and as long as the
gills are moist it is able to breathe.
[Illustration: PLATE II
1. THE SMOOTH BLENNY.
2. THE SPOTTED GUNNELL.]
So very often indeed a smooth blenny will hide in a crevice which is
left quite dry when the tide begins to fall, and will stay there till
it rises again, perhaps eight or ten hours later.
But the oddest thing about this little fish is that it can move one
of its eyes about without moving the other! Have you ever seen a
chameleon? If so, you must have noticed how it will turn one of its
curious eyes, first in one direction, and then in another, while the
other eye remains quite still. And the blenny can move its eyes in
just the same way, so that very often when one of them is looking out
in front the other will be looking out behind. And then one will twist
round and look upwards, while the other twists round and looks down!
If you succeed in catching a smooth blenny, you can always tell it from
the other fishes which live in the rock-pools by the deep notch in the
middle of the fin which runs along its back.
PLATE II
THE SPOTTED GUNNELL (2)
Another small fish which is very common in the rock-pools is the
Spotted Gunnell. It is often known as the “butter-fish,” and if you try
to catch it you will very quickly learn the reason why; for it will
slip between your fingers just as if it had been smeared all over with
butter. Nearly all fishes are slippery, but the spotted gunnell is the
most slippery of all, for its whole body is covered with such a thick
coat of greasy slime that it is really hardly possible to hold it.
Sometimes the spotted gunnell is light brown in colour, and sometimes
it is dark brown. But you can always tell it by its shape, which is
very much like that of an eel, for its body is long and flat, and is
of almost the same width the whole way along, from the head to nearly
the tip of the tail. Then instead of having two fins on its back quite
separate from one another, as most fishes have, the spotted gunnell has
one very narrow fin which runs the whole length of the body. So, you
see, it is very much like an eel indeed. But you can always tell it by
the row of black spots, bordered with white, on the lower edge of the
back-fin. When fully grown it is about six inches long.
PLATE III
THE DRAGONET (1)
You will not find this little fish in the rock-pools nearly so often
as the gobies and the gunnells, for it generally lives at the bottom
of the sea at some little distance from the shore. But now and then it
comes swimming up as the tide rises, and gets left behind as it falls
again, so that for a few hours, at any rate, it is obliged to stay in
the pools. It is a most beautiful little creature, and, strange to
say, the male is much more handsome than the female, for he is golden
yellow above and white beneath, with streaks and spots of lilac upon
his back and sides, while his mate is reddish-yellow all over. Besides
this, he has the front spine of his first back-fin drawn out to such
a length that it reaches almost to the tip of his tail, while all his
other fins are very long and very spiny. He really does look, indeed,
very much like a tiny water-dragon. That is the reason, of course, why
he is called the “dragonet.” The female, however, has much smaller
fins. Indeed, she is so very unlike the male that until a few years ago
even naturalists thought that she was a different fish altogether, and
she was generally known as the Fox, on account of her reddish colour.
[Illustration: PLATE III
1. THE DRAGONET.
2. THE PIPE-FISH.]
If you ever succeed in finding a dragonet in the rock-pools it is
almost sure to be a female, for the male hardly ever comes into shallow
water.
PLATE III
THE PIPE-FISH (2)
This is a very odd-looking fish indeed--quite the most curious of all
the fishes which live in the rock-pools. And as it is very common, you
ought to be able to find it without any difficulty.
In the first place, although it grows to a length of eighteen or
nineteen inches, its body, even in the largest part, is no bigger round
than a slate-pencil. For this reason it is often known as the Needle
Fish.
Besides this, its jaws are drawn out to a most wonderful length, and
are fastened together all the way along, so that they really form a
kind of tube. So, you see, a pipe-fish can never open or shut its
mouth, but has to suck in its food through the tiny hole at the tip of
the jaws.
Sometimes, as you look down into a rock-pool, you may see one of these
fishes feeding; and the way in which it does so is very curious indeed.
It suspends itself almost upright in the water, with its tail upwards
and its head downwards. It then fills its tube-like mouth with water,
which it squirts out again as hard as it possibly can. The result is,
of course, that the sand at the bottom of the pool is blown away, and
the various tiny creatures which were lying hidden underneath it are
uncovered. Then the fish sucks them up into its mouth, and swallows
them.
Another curious fact about the pipe-fish is that instead of being
clothed with scales, as most fishes are, it is covered all over with
hard bony plates, just like a suit of armour. But the strangest thing
of all about it is that underneath the body of the male fish is a kind
of pouch, into which the female puts her eggs, so that he can carry
them about in safety until they hatch! Isn’t that odd? And it is even
said that after the little fishes are hatched they will go back into
their father’s pouch if they are frightened, just as baby kangaroos do
into that of their mother, and remain there until the danger has passed
away!
PLATE IV
THE FLOUNDER
This is one of the “flat fishes,” as everybody calls them, like the
turbot and the sole. Yet, really and truly, these creatures are not
flat at all. They are thin. For what we always call the back of a sole
is not really its back. It is one of its sides. And what we always call
its lower surface is not its lower surface, but its other side!
This sounds very strange, doesn’t it? But the fact is that when these
so-called “flat” fishes are first hatched they swim upright, just as
all other fishes do. Then their backs are upwards, of course, and their
lower surfaces are downwards, and one of their sides is on either side.
For about a month they swim about in this way. At the end of that time
a strong desire comes over them to go and lie down on the sand or mud
at the bottom of the sea. Now, in order to do this, of course, they
have to lie upon their sides. Then three very strange things happen.
In the first place, their colour changes. Until now, both sides of the
body have been pearly or silvery white. A white fish, however, lying on
yellow sand or brown mud, would be very easily seen, and some hungry
creature would be sure to catch sight of it and devour it. So as soon
as the little fish lies down the upper side begins to get darker, and
in a very short time it is of just the same colour as the sand or mud
all round it. If you look into a shallow pool in which some of these
fishes are lying you will find it very difficult indeed to see them,
for they look exactly like the surface on which they rest.
In the second place, their way of swimming changes. When they first
hatch out from the egg these little fishes swim just as other fishes
do--upright, by means of their tails. For of course you know that
fishes do not swim with their fins, which merely help them to keep
their balance in the water. But when they lie down at the bottom of the
sea they give up this way of swimming, and wriggle their way, as it
were, through the water, still lying upon one side.
[Illustration: PLATE IV
THE FLOUNDER.]
But the oddest change of all takes place in the position of the eyes.
You can easily see, of course, that if a fish with its eyes in the
usual place lies down on one side at the bottom of the sea, one eye is
underneath its head, and is quite useless. So you might think that,
except when it was swimming, it would only be able to see with one
of its eyes. But a very strange thing indeed happens as soon as it lies
down on the mud. The lower eye actually begins to move, and slowly
travels round the head, till at last it settles down by the side of
the other! That sounds impossible, doesn’t it? It is as wonderful as
anything in a fairy story. Yet in every one of these so-called “flat”
fishes that strange journey of the eye takes place.
Next time you pass by a fishmonger’s shop just look at the soles or the
flounders in his window, and you will see that in every one of these
fishes the two eyes are quite close together, above the same corner of
the mouth. That is because one of the eyes moved right across the head
while the fish was quite small, so that it might be able to use them
both as it lay at the bottom of the sea.
You can sometimes catch flounders by paddling in the sea in places
where the bottom is rather muddy. After a little while you are almost
sure to feel one of these fishes wriggling underneath your feet, and
all that you have to do is to stoop down and seize it.
PLATE V
THE PLAICE
In its habits the plaice is very much like the flounder, except that
it does not like lying upon mud, and always chooses a spot where the
bottom of the sea is sandy. And the skin of the upper side of its
body, instead of growing dark brown, like the colour of mud, becomes
speckled and spotted like the surface of sand. The fish is always very
careful indeed to conceal itself, for even when the sea-bottom is sandy
it does not lie upon the surface, but wriggles its way right down into
the sand, only leaving just its eyes and a small part of its head above
it.
You can always tell a plaice when you see it by the bright
reddish-yellow spots upon the upper side of its body and its fins. And
besides these, it always has a row of little bony knobs on the upper
side of its head. You can catch it just as you can catch flounders, by
paddling in the sea. But the plaice which are caught in this way are
always quite small ones, for the bigger fish, which sometimes weigh as
much as twelve or even fifteen pounds, live in the deeper water at some
little distance from the shore.
PLATE VI
THE EGG OF THE SKATE (1)
Very often indeed, as you walk along the sea-shore, you will find a
curious object which the fishermen generally call a “mermaid’s purse.”
It is about three inches long and two inches wide, and is made of a
black, horny substance, so tough and hard that it is very difficult
indeed to tear it. And from each corner there projects a slender tube,
about an inch in length. In fact it looks rather like a hand-barrow,
with handles in front as well as at the back, instead of wheels.
[Illustration: PLATE V
THE PLAICE.]
This is an egg of that very curious fish which we call the Skate,
and which looks something like one of the “flat” fishes with a long
whip-like tail. So it is sometimes called a “skate-barrow.” When it is
flung up on the beach by the waves the egg is nearly always empty. But
if you happen to be staying by the sea-side in the early spring, and go
down for a walk along the beach after a violent storm, you may perhaps
find one of these eggs with a baby skate inside it. And if you examine
the egg very carefully, you will find that while one end is firmly
closed up, the other end has a slit running right across it, and that
this slit is made in such a way that it allows the little fish to pass
out quite easily when the proper time comes, but quite prevents any
other creature from coming in.
PLATE VI
THE EGG OF THE DOG-FISH (2)
On some parts of the coast you may often find an empty egg which is
very much like that of the skate, for it is made of just the same horny
material, and is of just the same shape. But at the four corners,
instead of having straight projections like the handles of a barrow, it
has long, twisted tendrils, just like those of a vine.
This is the egg of the Dog-fish, which is really a kind of small shark.
It is not big or strong enough to be dangerous to human beings; but it
is a terrible enemy to such small fishes as pilchards and herrings. For
a number of these creatures form themselves into a band and go hunting
together, just like a pack of wild dogs. And they will follow the shoal
about day after day, snapping up the poor helpless fishes in hundreds
and thousands.
When a dog-fish lays its eggs, it seems to fasten them down by their
tendrils to the weeds which are growing at the bottom of the sea; and
these hold them so firmly that unless the weeds are torn up with them,
they never break away. At each end of the egg is a small hole, allowing
a current of water to pass over the little fish inside it. And at one
end there is a slit, just like that in the egg of the skate, which can
only be pushed open from the inside. So the little dog-fish can get
out, while its enemies cannot get in.
[Illustration: PLATE VI
1. THE EGG OF SKATE.
2. THE EGG OF DOG-FISH.]
Very often, after a violent storm, you may find a dead dog-fish lying
upon the shore; and even if you have never seen one of these creatures
before you can tell at once what it is, because its skin is so rough
that it feels exactly like a piece of sand-paper. So this skin is
often used for covering the handles of swords, in order to give a firm
grip; and sometimes narrow strips of it are fastened to the sides of
boxes of lucifer matches.