Cuttlefish Harbour on the Coral Reef

A pale pink cuttlefish with a gold, black-slit eye and curling tentacles rests in a crowded coral reef, its mantle striped in cream and navy with a wavy green-and-gold fin around the edge. A small seaside town sits on its back: round white shell-shaped huts with ladders and round windows, seagrass gardens fenced in wood, little blue pools, a cart of shells, and workers with hammers and baskets. A diver in a brass helmet waves from a wooden lookout tower on its head, and another tends a garden. Orange tube sponges, purple fan corals, yellow flowers, anemones, giant clams and small fish crowd every side of it. The striped mantle and the coloured coral give the pieces clear areas to recognise.