03-19-2007
|
#24 (permalink)
|
|
Creating
Location:
North of Sydney Australia
|
Not Ranked
:
+0 / -0
0 score
Re: So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish
Quote:
Online feature
Requiem for a fish
14 March 2007
Louise Goggin
Cosmos Online
Requiem for a fish
A 1994 Faroe Islands stamp depicting the unfortunate orange roughy
Image: Wikipedia
They can live for over a century, but overfishing has driven the remarkable orange roughy to the brink. What can we learn from their desperate plight?
When fishermen began reeling in orange roughy in the 1980s, some of the fish they dragged from deep below Australia's ferocious southern seas were an astounding 150 years old. That means they would have hatched around the same time Charles Darwin embarked on his historic voyage aboard the HMS Beagle.
But those orange roughy (Hoplostethus atlanticus), dumped unceremoniously onto the trawlers' heaving and salt-sprayed decks, were not destined to become famous. Instead, they ended up on a dinner plate of someone likely not even half their age.
Even for those that escaped the dinner table, survival is not guaranteed.
This ugly species is blessed with two idiosyncratic traits: enormous eyes, which allow it to see in the deep ocean gloom; and one of the longest lifespans of any fish. Unfortunately these animals have a firm, white flesh that is highly prized by diners in the United States.
|
More here
Requiem for a fish | COSMOS magazine
also on rss feed
----------------
"Unemployment is capitalism's way of getting you to plant a garden."
~Orson Scott Card  |
|
