F is for Fish

Spotted during our travels in Germany.

During April, we're participating in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge. Every day (except Sundays), we’ll be doing an alphabet themed post starting with “A is for Adventurous” and ending with “Z is for Zinc”. We've got a theme for every letter sorted except for Y. If you have any ideas for the letter Y, please leave a comment or email.

When you think of the ocean, you think of fish. You also think of other things like tsunamis, containers which have fallen off of freighter ships, narwhals and Jules Verne. But let’s stick with fish.

I never really gave fish much thought until Scott started bringing home salmon and sturgeon on a regular basis when we lived in the Pacific Northwest. Then I started giving fish a lot of thought. Like sturgeon are one of the ugliest creatures ever but they taste delicious and how many ways can you make salmon especially when the freezer is overflowing with it? Now that we live on a boat and like to supplement our diet with fish, I’ve been giving them a lot more thought (and doing some googling).

Another fishy treasure spotted in Germany.

Did you know… 

1 - Catfish have over 27,000 taste buds. We have around 7,000. Imagine how much tastier catfish would be if we had more taste buds.

2 - Most fish have taste buds all over their bodies. That’s just plain gross. Imagine “tasting” things inadvertently as you brushed up against them.

3 - Many brands of lipstick contain fish scales. Glad I don’t wear the stuff.

4 - I almost choked on a snapper bone in the Coromandel anchored off an island populated with menacing rats with glowing red eyes.

5 - Boats have ballasted keels on the lower part to keep them from capsizing. Fish have their “keels” on the top. If their fins stop working, they flip over like a capsized boat, but in reverse.

6 - Most fish can’t swim backwards. This seems like a design flaw.

7 - Fish can drown in water. It's true - at least the internet says so. Fish need oxygen and if there isn't enough oxygen in the water, then they drown. 

8 - One third of male fish in Britain are changing sex due to pollution in human sewage. That just seems wrong. Sex change operations should always be voluntary.

For more fun facts about fish, check out Random Facts.

Fish mosaic from Tunisia.

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