Articles

Panic away!

by Shirley Grande

I never liked the sea. It is slimy, salty, and stings my eyes. But as I marveled at schools of tropical fish darting about in blue and yellow streaks among brain coral on the Discovery Channel, it hit me. I have to know: Is the sea really as vibrant as this? ... - WINNER best story July 2003

Desert Isles of the Coral Sea

by Walter Starck

It was one of those places where the forces which govern life seem to come to a focus of preternatural beauty and intensity. I stood in a small grassy field. It was bounded by a dazzling band of coral sand. Crystalline aquamarine shallows grading into turquoise surrounded the islet. Farther out, a broad shallow reef flat fashioned a skirt of many colors terminating in a hemline of sparkling white breakers. Beyond, an endless sea of indigo blue velvet spread out to the horizon. Life was everywhere.

The Sydney Pygmy Pipehorse

by Ákos Lumnitzer

I thought my eyes were deceiving me. All I could make out was a little white fish resembling a seahorse, no bigger than a 50-cent piece. Yet it was so elaborately disguised I literally bumped into it head first.....