A bit of translation

[Observer]

A bit of translation - help!

Hi, guys. I'm a non-native speaker of English and I'm currently translating a chapter from Keri Hulme's book "The Bone People". I've got stuck with the passage I paste below and have no idea what she is writing about (frankly, I was unable to find the meaning of most words/phrases 🙂. All I know from the few preceding sentences is that the narrator has just went down to a beach. The passage goes:

"And here I am, balanced on the saltstained rim, watching minute navyblue fringes, gill-fingers of tubeworms, fan the water:... put the shadow of a finger near them, and they flick outasight. Eyes in your lungs... neat."

(Then she goes on describing what she can see in the sea - fish, sea-anemones, a hermit crab, etc.)

If anyone could paraphrase this bit, that would be much help. (I get the point about "flicking outasight", she must be referring to some fish. Still, the rest puzzles me.)

Thanks in advance!

 

[brad1701]

She's describing marine life in tidal pools and along the shore. Tubeworms are sessile (rooted in place) organisms that live in tubes they make for themselves. They feed by emerging from their tubes and letting the current bring microscopic animals and plants to their mouths. Their gills are fan-like with fringes, and if you touch them they retract into their tubes.

Hope that helps! 🙂

 

[wendith]

Oh my God, I LOVED that book - read it years ago, and I have never forgotten it, I can't believe you are reading it. It was as I recall, both sensuous and disturbing...very cool book. (And yes, Brad seems to have nailed the translation very well.)