Monthly Archives: June 2013

J is for Jellyfish loving Juvenile Jack

jack aka golden trevally

J is for Jellyfish loving Juvenile Jack

Scientific name: Gnathanodon speciosus

Tagalog: Leson & Labong Labong

Juvenile Jacks love Giant Jellyfish.

They have tough skin so the jellyfish tentacles only sting a little bit.

Having jellyfish protection when a big fish wants to eat you is worth a little sting.

This bright yellow jack is also known as Golden Trevally and like most trevally, they get HUGE.

Jacks are truly a « Jack of all trades ». Jacks patrol their reef, but they can also compete in the open ocean or expore sandy shallows or swim around the mangroves.

They are large and in charge predators and even boss around the reef sharks.

At least they are once they grow up, and to do that they have to survive with tricks like swimming with jellyfish.

I is for Ichthyologist

Ichthyologist and Mermaid discussionI is for Ichthyologist

ICK-THEEE-O-LOW-GEST     –  Ichthyologist!

This is a name for a person often found in the water. They are scientists who study fish, count fish, dream about fish and collect data to unlock the secret lives of fishes.

Ocean enthusiastic kids have inquired on how to become a mermaid. The answer lies in the theme of this book and my response back to these mermaid scientist “sea fans” focuses on the importance of gaining knowledge about the ocean and all its fishes, and that creating this deeper understanding between yourself and the ocean is the crux of becoming a mermaid. The study of Ichthyology is an age old mermaid tradition.

To all aspiring Mermaids aka Ichthyologists I say: Learn! Read! Enjoy! and before long, you will understand what it is to be half fish.

Side note:  The Father of Ichthyology was a swedish naturalist Peter Artedi, who mysteriously disappeared in the waters of Amsterdam. This epitaph was written in latin by Anders Celsius, translated by George Shaw and quoted in Linnaeus’s publication of the Ichthyologia: Here lies poor Artedi, in foreign land pyx’d

Not a man nor a fish, but something betwixt,
Not a man, for his life among fishes he past,
Not a fish, for he perished by water at last.