It is estimated that scientist have only explored approximately 1% of the oceans’ depths. They feel there are millions more species of fish and animals in the oceans yet to be found. Do you think they will eventually find mermaids? Here are more interesting Fishy Fun Facts which only begins to hint at the interesting facts of fish. Some of these facts you may already know about and others may surprise you. I have tried to group them more or less into categories. I hope you enjoy.
FISH COMPARED TO HUMANS: The fangtooth fish is only a few inches long but the teeth it has are about the size of a human’s tooth. Sharks are the only fish that have eyelids. And speaking of the eyes, most fish can see in color and many use colors to camouflage themselves and to defend themselves and their territory. (Yes, many fish are territorial.) Fish in a fish tank can see you peering in at them. Some fish can see polarized and ultraviolet light. As humans, we can make a variety of sounds. Fish make low pitched sounds to communicate with other fish. They can moan, croak, hiss, whistle, grunt, creak, boom, shriek and wail. They can gnash their teeth, rattle their bones or make noises by vibrating their muscles against their swim bladder. Unlike humans, fish have no vocal chords.
SKIN: The majority of fish have scales. As they grow the scales enlarge rather than new scales being produced. Scientists use fish scales the same as tree rings to measure the age of a fish. Ladies, here is some trivia that you may not know about. I am sure you have heard of pearl essence/pearlescence. It is what makes some lipstick, nail polish and a variety of other products shimmery. That shimmer is from the silvery stuff found in fish scales. Obtained mainly from herring, it is a by-product of commercial fish processing. There are synthetic versions of the shimmer and both are used.
CHANGING SEX: The male emperor angelfish lives in a harem of up to five female emperor angelfish. When the male dies off one of the females will change its sex to male and take over the male’s role and becomes the leader of the harem. About a third of the male fish in the British waters are changing their sex due to human sewage. They suspect that hormones, including birth control pills are the cause for this phenomenon.
FISH & WATER: Like all living creatures, fish also need water to live. Fish that live in saltwater need to drink more water than their freshwater counter parts. Water constantly flows out of a fish. If the fish do not drink enough water to replace what they lose then the salt in the water would dry the fish up. As most fish have some salt in them, a shark’s meat is as salty as the water it lives in. Did you know that fish, like humans, can drown in water? Like humans, fish need oxygen to live. How many have seen the goldfish floating upside down in the fishbowl because the water had not been cleaned? The oxygen in the water had been depleted.
SIZE IS RELATIVE: The world’s smallest fish are usually considered to be the freshwater Luzon and Pygmy gobies from the Philippines and the saltwater Marshall Islands goby and the tiny rice fish from Thailand. All of these fish reach a maximum size of ½”, approximately the size of a grain of rice. On the flipside the largest fish is considered to be the giant whale shark which grows to almost 60 feet and weighs over 25 tons. Given the size of this fish, its main diet is plankton. There is a species of fish that the male and female are very disproportionate in size. The female anglerfish can get up to 24 inches in length while the male is only about 1.6 inches long. He lives as a parasite on the female and they mate for life. As he gets older he gets smaller and smaller.
DISTANCE TRAVELED: You’ve heard the saying “raining cats and dogs”. There is also a fact that tornadoes have picked up fish and carried them onto land. This is called “fish showers” and have been going on for thousands of years. Pliny the Younger wrote about this in 1st century A.D. Now the above is not to be confused with flying fish which can glide about 160 feet and have been known to glide as far as 660 feet. Heights of 19 feet above the ocean have been reached on these glides. Some species of salmon have been known to travel nearly 2000 miles in approximately 60 days. They make this travel back to the waters where they were born in order to mate and lay their eggs.
SLOW vs. FAST: The fastest fish is the sailfish. It can go 100 meters in 4.8 seconds. The fastest speed clocked for an individual sailfish was 68 mph. On the opposite end of the scale is the seahorse which takes 1 hour to go 5 feet. Since the seahorse is the only fish that can swim upright, it looks like it is just standing still rather than being in motion.
ODDBALL FACTS:
1. Fish in the middle of a school of fish are the ones in control. Those on the outside move in response to the middle fish.
2. Batfish can “play dead” when threatened. They look like a leaf floating on the surface of the water.
3. Lampreys and hagfish are the most primitive form of fish living. The hagfish creates enough slime in one minute to fill a bucket.
4. Electric eels and rays can generate enough electricity to kill a horse.
5. The Japanese fugu, commonly known as the pufferfish, is highly toxic with a deadly poison called tetrodotoxin. This fish is also a delicacy that chefs must be certified from a special school to be able to prepare this fish to be eaten.
6. The oldest known fish caught is believed to be the rockfish caught in Alaska in 2013. Scientists estimate it (by the growth scales) to be around 200 years old.
7. The oldest living fish is the Australian lungfish that lives at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, IL. (A wonderful place to visit!). Granddad arrived at Shedd’s in 1933 and was already fully grown. In September 2013 they celebrated his 80th anniversary at the aquarium.
8. Mudskippers are a fish that spend most of their time out of water and walk on their fins. It carries a supply of water in its gill chambers and it can breathe through the pores of its wet skin.
The container you are looking for is slightly smaller than a bison tube. It is visible from the right angle. Difficulty is based on muggles and the hide itself. Use your geosense, trust your gps and feel around. Please replace as you found it. Tweezers will be needed to retrieve the log.