. The Australian Museum magazine. Natural history. THE AUSTRx4LIAN MUSEUM MAGAZINE. 2:u Sea-Dragons By Allan R. McCulloch. WHENEVER the winds blow harder than is usnal from the sea, the waves churn up the animals and ])lants which live just below the lowest limits of the tides. Our ocean beaches at such times become strewn with an assemblage of marine organisms which are rarely exhibited to our view under any other circumstances. They live among rocks Avhere they are safe from ca})ture by either nets or dredges, and, unless lured to destruction with a baited hook, they are almost entirely safe
. The Australian Museum magazine. Natural history. THE AUSTRx4LIAN MUSEUM MAGAZINE. 2:u Sea-Dragons By Allan R. McCulloch. WHENEVER the winds blow harder than is usnal from the sea, the waves churn up the animals and ])lants which live just below the lowest limits of the tides. Our ocean beaches at such times become strewn with an assemblage of marine organisms which are rarely exhibited to our view under any other circumstances. They live among rocks Avhere they are safe from ca})ture by either nets or dredges, and, unless lured to destruction with a baited hook, they are almost entirely safe from ill-treatment at the hands of human beings. Australian waters, which is here illus- trated, is provided with a whole series of not only leaves, but branches and shooting twig-like growths, which are so perfectly developed in sha) e and colour that they must render the fish well nigh when it secretes itself the weedy growths of its haunts. The species common around Sydney is highly ornate, being decorated with brilliant scarlet, yellow, and dashes of violet, which suggest that its haunts are among the red sea-weeds e)f the littoral zone. Its leafy appendages are less. A South Australian Sea-dragon. One step more, in evolution, and it would hecorne a bunch of kelp. [I'lioto.^O. ( . (lutton. After almost every storm, one or more specimens of the c^ueerest of iishes, the Leafy Sea-dragon, are picked up by some wandering beach-comber, and find their way to the Australian Museum. There are several species of these re- markable animals, some of which are even more extraordinary than the others, but all are provieleel with a larger or smaller number of leaf-like appen- dages from which they derive their pop- ular name. A species from South developeel than in its South Australian cousin, being confined to the end of each of the spines which i^roject like outstanding bones from its queer shapeel body. The Sea-dragons are members of a large group Avhich incluelcs t
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, booksubjectnaturalhistory, booky
