Glimpses of Ocean Life 16

Glimpses of Ocean Life 16

The Shrimp is so common, and so well known, that a lengthened

description of it is unnecessary. I shall, therefore, merely record

an ingenious plan by which specimens of the _Crangon vulgaris_ may be

procured by visitors at the sea-side, who do not care to wade in the

water with a large net.

 

It is one generally pursued by Scotch boys as a mere amusement, for

neither shrimps nor prawns are eaten to any great extent by the

inhabitants of Scotland generally.

 

On arriving at a pool, a person will soon know whether shrimps are

contained therein, from the number of sand clouds that are raised by

these little crusty fellows at any intrusion upon their privacy. Many

persons employ a hand net, and pass it rapidly through the water,

thinking thereby to startle and entrap the animals in question.

Sometimes the plan succeeds, but more often it turns out a failure.

 

Instead of using the net, let the young zoologist stoop down, place the

palms of his hands suddenly upon the surface of the sand, then slowly

draw them near each other, at same time cautiously close the fingers,

and he will in all probability feel the objects of his search wriggling

to escape from his unwelcome and unfriendly grasp.

 

To satisfy curiosity, take one of the captured specimens and drop it in

the sand that surrounds the cavity in which your skill as a shrimper

has been exercised, and I will venture to assert that, in an instant,

the little creature will have disappeared as if by magic--such is

the wonderful rapidity with which the shrimp burrows itself. Even

when lying upon the surface a practised eye is required to detect the

presence of a shrimp, in consequence of its colour being of the exact

shade of the sand in which it hides. In clear pools its body is of

a light drab colour, which becomes changed to a dark tint when the

animal is located in a pool, the base of which is of a sombre hue.

 

The prawn, or shrimp, is somewhat of a gourmand, and requires to be fed

occasionally. The most simple food to give either, when in an aquarium,

is an open mussel or cockle. A marine worm, such for instance as the

_Terrebella_, however (as on one occasion I vexatiously discovered), is

a dainty more highly prized than the flesh of a bivalve, but one which

cannot often be indulged in from its comparative rarity.

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER VIII.

 

Acorn Barnacles.--Ship Barnacles.

 

 

'Barnacles turn Solan Geese

In the islands of the Orcades.'

 

 

 

 

VIII.

 

 

If the reader has been struck at what has been said in regard to the

exuviation of crabs, &c., he will probably be more surprised when I

state that precisely the same phenomena take place in the simple _Acorn

Barnacle_, that studs in countless numbers almost every rock and shell

situated between tide marks. No one can visit the sea-shore, at certain

localities, without noticing the white spots which constitute the

shells of the cirripeds in question, although he may not be acquainted

with the marvellous beauty of the animal contained within each.

 

Its loveliness, it is true, is in no wise apparent when parched and

dry; but let the welcome waves advance and playfully dash their spray

against the dwelling of the little crustacean, and quickly its valves

will open, displaying a delicate feathery plume, thrust forth and

hastily withdrawn again.

 

As it is not convenient to watch the movements of this animal in a

rock-pool, let me request the reader kindly to take a peep into my

aquarium. Here is a Trochus shell, for example, inhabited, as you

perceive, by a Soldier-Crab, the surface of which is thickly covered

with shelly cones, of small dimensions. These are the Barnacles

(_Balani_). The Trochus most fortunately being near the side of the

glass, is capitally situated for our purpose. Take the hand lens,

adjust its focus, and watch carefully for the opening of the cones.

Tush! The hermit never _will_ rest contented in any position for two

consecutive minutes; but see! as he walks away the fairy hands are

being rapidly thrown out and made to sweep the water in graceful

curves, thereby suggesting some resemblance to a bevy of school

children at Christmas time, bidding _adieux_ to their friends, while

seated on the roof of an old stage coach.

 

Carefully I lift the Pagurus bodily out of the tank, and transfer him

to a wine glass filled with clean water. After a few minutes have

elapsed, the hands again commence their fishing operations. Observe,

now, that these organs fan the fluid in such a manner as to catch any

animalculæ that may be near, and draw them towards the aperture caused

by the opening of the valves of the Barnacle. A close inspection will,

I am sure, prove to your satisfaction that there is also distinctly

apparent a second and smaller cluster of feathery fingers, whose duty

it is to catch the food, brought near by the larger and corresponding

organs, and finally convey it into the mouth of the little cirriped.

There may be, in the wide range of Nature's lower scale of life,

prettier sights to gladden the eye of the student than that above

described,--but if so, I must confess _my_ inability to indicate where

such are to be found. The fishing apparatus here mentioned consists of

a number of slender _cirri_, thickly coated with microscopic filaments

(cilia), and is, at certain periods, thrown off complete and entire by

the process of exuviation, just as we have seen it occur in the higher

crustacea.

 

Would you, my young friend, like to procure an exuvium of the Barnacle

for examination? Yes. Then follow the directions I am now about to

give, and your wish will be speedily gratified.

 

Presuming that your tank already contains a number of Barnacles

attached to various objects, and that such have been in the same vessel

for some weeks; syringe the water for a few minutes, and you will

find floating about, or rising to the surface, many specimens of the

desired object. They will, in all probability, be visible to the naked

eye. To attempt to lift one out of the water, however, by means of

your finger and thumb would be utterly useless. Such a procedure, even

were it successful, would inevitably mar the delicate beauty of this

'inessential' object, which, spirit like, casts no shadow upon weed or

water. The best plan is to insert a tube of glass into the aquarium, in

such a way that the exuvium may ascend the interior. Then place your

finger on the top, and draw the tube out of the water, and you will be

able to deposit the skin of the Barnacle upon a slip of glass by merely

lifting off your finger. The specimen can then be leisurely arranged,

and spread out by aid of a hand lens and fine pointed needles.

 

Walking by the sea-shore one fine summer afternoon, I met a fisher

boy running along with some curious objects spread out in the palm of

his left hand, while in his right, suspended from finger and thumb,

appeared a still more desirable prize.

 

At first glance I detected the objects to be specimens of the _Lepas

anatifera_. They had, so the boy stated in answer to my inquiries, been

plucked from the base of a ship newly arrived from a long voyage. When

I offered him sixpence for the 'lot,' the embryo plougher of the deep

looked up in my face with a singularly mistrustful __EXPRESSION__, and

said, 'D'ye mean it, sir?' I gave speedy assurance of my sincerity,

and on receiving the purchase money, after handing over the Barnacles

to my custody, the young urchin started off as fast as his legs,

encased in huge wading boots, would allow him. His alarm was quite

unnecessary, for although in a few days after I would not have given a

penny for a thousand, I would willingly, on the above occasion, have

paid five shillings for a single specimen, rather than have missed

the opportunity of possessing such an interesting object as the Ship

Barnacle.

 

On placing them in water one only of the creatures showed any signs

of life, and by next morning they made the scentral organ of my face

so highly indignant that, in order to allay its irritability, I was

obliged to remove the defunct animals to the outside of the window.

There they remained for several months, and were eventually transferred

to the privacy of a card-board box. Although twelve months have elapsed

since the last-mentioned removal took place, these creatures even now,

when the lid of the case is lifted, give out a smell, so 'antient and

fish-like,' that I believe not a few of 'the sweet perfumes of Arabia'

would be needed in order to subdue its power.

 

One cluster contained thirty Lepades, and the other eighteen. The

average length of each Barnacle is about three or four inches.

One, however, measured nearly ten inches. The fleshy stalk is of a

purplish-grey colour, semi-transparent, and perfectly smooth. The

shell, which consists of five pieces, is bluish-white, while that

portion from whence the cirri protrude appears of a brilliant orange,

the cirri themselves being exquisitely tinted with violet, shaded off

to a deep purple.

 

I may here mention that the above animal was by our ancestors most

unaccountably supposed to be the young of the solan goose!--a bird that

haunts in vast numbers the Bass Rock and Ailsa Craig. Indeed, a common

belief in different parts of Scotland, and over the west of England

was, that the shells grew upon certain trees, and in process of time

opened of themselves; whereupon a certain animated substance contained

within the shell dropped down, and according to the place where it fell

perished or fructified. By falling into the water it grew to be a fowl;

but by falling upon land the vital principle became extinct. The fowls

which resulted from the more fortunate contingency were called Barnacle

Geese in Scotland, and Brant, or Tree Geese in England. This delusion

appears to have arisen from the fact of Barnacles having been found in

great abundance on trunks and even branches of trees long submerged

in the sea.[8] Bishop Hall thus alludes to the popular notion in his

Satires:--

 

'His father dead! tush, no, it was not he;

He finds records of his great pedigree;

And tells how first his famous ancestor

Did come in long since with the Conqueror.

Nor hath some bribed herald first assigned

His quartered arms, and crest of gentle kind;

_The Scottish Barnacle, if I might choose,

That of a worme, doth waxe a winged goose_.'

 

[8] Vide author's 'Seaside and Aquarium.'

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER IX.

 

Phyllodoce Laminosa--the Laminated Nereis

 

 

'His meaner works

Are yet his care, and have and interest all--

All, in the universal Father's love.'

 

--COWPER.