A PARADISE UNDERSEA

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 986, 31 May 1930, Page 15

A PARADISE UNDERSEA

SHOOTING FISH WITH CAMERA BLUE DEPTHS INVADED Fifteen feet under water off the Tortugas lie the fairest islands of the sea. There is found a paradise of dart ing red, blue, and yellow life among coral places, tunnels, and cathedral naves—a world strange and unlike anything found on land. It might well be the imaginative realm of Mars, Venus, or Jupiter, or a part of the moon. Science has invaded this undersea world in search of a better under standing of the millions of finny inhabi tants that live there. Dr. Paul Bartscli, curator of molluscs, of the United States National Museum, in co-operation with the Carnegie Insti tution for the advancement of science, is a recent explorer. His body cov ered with olive oil, and his head encased in a heavy helmet attached to air lines, and a tiny launch, he slips over the edge, down the ladder and finds himself in that most mysterious world of all worlds. Armed with a specially adapted but simply constructed motion picture camera he walks about in the warm waters of the gulf to catch snapshots that will give landsmen a better idea of this other world. There is something of an adventurous experience that takes nerve, quick wit, sharp eyes, and sure movements. There is no previous experience to warn him of danger, or travel literature to guide him. He is an explorer in a strange country. “The chief purpose of thtese underwater studies,” Dr. Bartsch declares,

“is to call the attention of the public in general, and young people in particular. to the wonderful beauty and diversity of marine life. It is a fascinating region that should be better known.” In the Florida coastal water he found tho rainbow-like creatures —the blue angel fish, the butterfly fish, and the spotted hinds and the yellow-tails—ideal posers for the camera. Unafraid, these finny inhabitants pay no attention. To them he is but a fish among fish. They fear only that which is above them. The life below the water is different from that above. There are no seasons to roll in cycles. There is twilight or endless night. The various inhabitants live their lives supported by ceaseless drifting down of organism, millions of microscopic size, from the upper to the lower levels of the ocean, each feeding the other in the eternal silence that rules over all. Even as the vegetation that covers the mountainside changes with changing altitude, so with the depths that reach down from the shore line into the caverns of the sea. Life along the shore is not the same as that from five fathoms down, and ten, twenty, and thirty fathoms see still other differences. A Bit Inquisitive In this watery world Dr. Bartsch found and photographed the inhabitants at their meals, observed the hours at which they feed and on what they dine; he watched them in their social relationship and at play. When some finny citizen did not face the right way, says Dr. Bartsch, it was only necesasry to shove them around with the hand. They would make no effort to escape. Besides the happy-go-lucky angel fish, growing sometimes a foot long, and a foot tall, there are the sponges and the star fish, also tbe sea urchins and nettles. There is the shark and the great barracuda, able to sever the body of a man at one bite, “but he is a perfect gentleman in liis home,” according to this scientist Xvho called upon him there. His first introduction found the barracuda a bit inquisitive, and it frightened Dr. Bartsch. As he tells the story he had waited long for a picture of the great pike. One evening down came a monster. So full was the diver of the tales of this terrible fish that instead of unlimbering his camera and tripod for the picture that he sought, he started fencing with him, using the prong ends of his tripod as a sword. The barracuda instead of resenting the attack and lunging at him, paused a few moments, nosed about, and then swam off. It was some time before another opportunity presented itself, but when it did there was no more fencing. Marine photography is very difficult, but of all photography it yields the most surprising and delightful results. To obtain these, however, great care must be exercised, not to soy nerve, for the firsh do not wait to be photographed. There is no “sitting.” no posing nor posturing. All must lie caught “on the swim,” as it were A reflex camera with good focal plane shutters has been found to lend itself best for this purpose. The average exposture is one twenty-fifth of a sec ond. The motion picture camera is not of the large variety, but small and compact, and the chief difference Lies in its watertightness. Giant fish will occasionally peer into the plate-glass helmet, for they are curious. Still others will swim between his legs and arms without thought of danger Some will follow him seeking for food and apparently expecting him to throw some out very much the same as domestic fowls will follow the farmer about the chicken yard, anxious ard waiting. The Carnegie Institution maintains a station at the Dry Tortugas, one cf the tiny islands of the Keys. Here numerous students of marine life sro for the purpose of scientific study Here, too, science notes with painsi aking exactness the watery world Once beneath the waves, the water, transparent and constantly moving, seems no longer to be water, but a queer an compassing medium. There is no consciousness of wetness. At the bottom of the Gulf the explorer puts out hm hand to touch a coral projection that seems just ahead, only to find that it is not there but far away, and, seeming small, towers far over him. Putting the foot down on a rock, he finds that he misses it entirely. Declivities which appear slight are often great and huge depressions, sometimes becoming veritable gorges In the undersea world gravitation is wholly changed. and in respect to sheer weight you might, be on the moon or Mars. It is easy to break world athletic records under the waves. It is possible to step so lightly as to be able to walk on egg shells without crushing them. Stepping off a tenfoot coral precipice, the explorer finds himself sinking slowly down and able to twist and turn in mid-water to choose a good landing place.