Toilers in the sea / [M.C. Cooke].

  • Cooke, M. C. (Mordecai Cubitt), 1825-1914.
Date:
1889
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Toilers in the sea / [M.C. Cooke]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    One most interesting feature in the history of these zoophytes is the phenomenon of phosphorescence which they exhibit, although they are not the only animals which contribute to the phosphorescence of the sea. One author writes:—“ I lately had an opportunity of beholding this novel and interesting sight, of the phosphorescence of zoophytes, to great advantage when on board one of the Devonshire trawling-boats which frequent this coast. The trawl was raised at midnight, and great quantities of coral- lines were entangled in the meshes of the net-work, all shining like myriads of the brightest diamonds ;”1 and, subsequently, the same writer says :—“Numerous friends can bear witness to the exceeding brilliancy of the phosphorescent light emitted by a great variety of species, which I was in the habit of ex- hibiting to them. Once each week I received from the master of a trawling-vessel, on the Dublin coast, a large hamper of zoophytes in a recent state; in the evening these were taken into a darkened room, and the spectators assembled ; I then used to gather up, with my hands, as much of the contents of the hamper as I could manage, and, tossing them about in all directions, thousands of little stars shone out brightly from the obscurity, exhibiting a spectacle, the beauty 1 Hassall, in “Annals of Natural History,’' first series, vol. vii. p. 281.