On Coral-eating Habits of Holothurians

Abstract

BEING struck with a remark of Mr. Darwin in his work on “Coral Reefs,” where it is stated on the authority of Dr. J. Allan, of Forres, that the Holothuriæ subsist on living coral, and that by these and other creatures which swarm on coral reefs, an immense amount of coral must be yearly consumed and ground down into mud (p. 14), I determined to commence a series of observations on this subject, in order to ascertain the rate at which these animals void the coral sand from their intestinal canal, and “ergo” the amount of coral an individual would yearly transform into sand.