KEY ASPECTS OF THE STORY
31- ALL CHANGES AT NIGHTFALL
33- SPACE RACE All over the reef, there is a constant struggle. These soft corals and their solitary coral cousins are uncomfortable bedfellows. The rock is too small, and they cannot live on top of one another. The battle of colors and shapes is joined, the tentacles reach out for the minuscule plankton that will feed the winner. 34- EEL GARDEN In their individual burrows, from which they seem never to emerge, the garden eels are packed together so closely that they could touch snouts. There are hundreds of them, their bodies and heads gently billowing, snapping up their planktonic food as they go. When danger approaches, they retreat to the depths of their shelter in a graceful, wavelike movement. 35- HAZARDS OF THE SAND The danger is there, in the sediment, almost completely buried with just the tip of its fearsome mouth showing. The Atlantic stargazer lies in wait, pouncing on fish surprised by the suddenly moving sand. With a formidable mouth, appearing to be just another seaweed- covered rock, concretions of all kinds, perfectly motionless, patiently waiting hours for its wriggling reward, the Inimicus or sea goblin, a relation of the stonefish, is every bit as adept at camouflage as its cousin. The crocodilefish haunts the sandy seabed. What traits does it share with its reptilian namesake? Perhaps its gluttony, its patience, its enormous mouth, or its ability to melt into the background. Only its gleaming, all-seeing eye might give it away, but the fish has learned to camouflage it.
A fish dims its colors to sleep in the shelter of a gorgonian, then another, and another... Night is falling. 32- IN THE WAKE OF GIANTS A passing shoal of manta rays casts a shadow over the reef, as the winged monsters sail overhead in search of their tiny prey. Suddenly, the winged devil positions itself above the reef, opens its cavernous mouth, and waits. The fish soon come.
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