Marvin Gaye is not my favourite artist but I do like this song and quite frankly when considering the music for this blog...well there isn't a lot in my playlist about fish swimming in the sea and I quickly by-passed the Spongebob Squarepants theme song...you can thank me later for that one. :)
In my doctors office, they have a very large aquarium with an assortment of fish in it. It is always so clean and the water so clear...I would have figured it would be covered in nose and lip prints from children pushing their faces up against the glass and showing the fish their "fish lips". I've seen my share of parents putting their fingers on the glass to point out a particular fish to a fussy child hoping to delay the onset of a tantrum. But for those of us over 4' tall, it is very meditative to watch fish swimming in a tank.
And I am no exception I guess, for I got to thinking...do fish get and beget for the sole purpose of maintaining the family genes like other species? There was one particular orange hued fish that was skimming the bottom of the tank sucking up the gravel and then spitting it back out. It was like he was in his own world unmindful of all the other swimmers around him. Closer to the water line a black lacy fish seemed to be showing off to a glittery silver fish. Black Lacy would swim in front of Glittery Silver seemingly to block the path and forcing Glittery Silver to stop or make an abrupt turn. And the smaller white fish with the red insignia on it's forehead seemed to watch all this activity with interest trying to join in while Black Lacy was lining up for another pass.
So the question came to mind, would these two very dissimilar fish get together to make fish babies? Wouldn't it be like two different species getting together. Like a cat and a dog? Could it even happen. Or would it be more like an Italian and a Canadian joining forces. Two fish, two humans. Same difference? But fish mating is quite different to our own although some species do require the male to transfer his sperm to the female eggs. At the appropriate time she will have a live birth. Fish have nest builders where the female lays eggs and the male come along and fertilize them and then protect the young 'uns. Very similar to the nest builders is the egg droppers. Females drop eggs on the bottom of the aquarium or on plants and the male later passes by to fertilize. That's all fine and well for a science lesson, but if I am a male Canadian or Angel Fish looking to fertilize eggs as I swim about. How do I know that the pile of eggs I spot is not that of piranha? Is there a sign? Does it matter? Genetics has to have some role in the propagation of the species.
In this tank, there weren't two black lacy nor two glittery silver. Assuming they can't reproduce because they don't have another one of their kind within reach...do they still want to do it? Or do fish go into some kind of self-imposed celibacy when they are captured and housed with no compatible mates. I'm really not in the doctors office to know, but I have never seen any babies swimming about. Maybe they are consumed as infants. Can you imagine if one of these inconsolable toddlers saw that!
If fish can't reproduce in an aquarium, maybe we should start to consider them cruel and inhumane. Or at least enact legislation whereby fish must be sold in pairs. Employees of pet stores would be mandated to go for training to be able to identify the sex of fish. Apparently it isn't easy. Oh no, to be politically correct we must consider alternative lifestyle. People can be gay and there is talk that penguins have such tendencies. What of fish?
Where is PETA in all this? I wonder what their stand is? Let the fish be free...we can meditate and be reflective with a nice photograph of a waterfall and a fake fountain gurgling in the corner.
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