Fish is one of the most important symbols in almost all cults and cultures. In Buddhism, fish symbolize getting rid of everything worldly, and in ancient Indian cults, they also symbolize fertility and satiety. In numerous stories and legends, a fish that swallows a person allegorically depicts the "underworld", and for the first Christians, the fish was a sign depicting involvement in their faith.
The secret mark of the early Christians
Such a variety of personifications of fish is most likely due to the fact that a person has been familiar with fish since ancient times, but he could not fully understand or, even more so, tame fish. For the ancients, fish was an affordable and relatively safe food. In a hungry year, when land animals roamed away, and the land gave little fruit, it was possible to feed on fish, which can be obtained without much risk to life. On the other hand, the fish could disappear due to extermination or even a small change in natural conditions, imperceptible to humans. And then the person was deprived of the chance to escape from starvation. Thus, the fish gradually turned from a food product into a symbol of life or death.
The long acquaintance with fish, of course, was reflected in the daily culture of man. Thousands of dishes are prepared from fish, books and films are made about fish. The expressions “goldfish” or “bone in the throat” are self-explanatory. You can make up separate books from proverbs and sayings about fish. A separate layer of culture is fishing. The innate instinct of a hunter draws a person's attention to any information about her, be it a frank story or information about millions of tons of fish caught in the ocean by industrial means.
The ocean of information about fish is inexhaustible. The selection below contains, of course, only a tiny part of it
1. According to the most authoritative online catalog of fish species, by the beginning of 2019, more than 34,000 fish species have been found and described around the world. This is more than birds, reptiles, mammals and amphibians combined. Moreover, the number of described species is constantly increasing. In “lean” years, the catalog is replenished with 200 - 250 species, but more often 400 - 500 species are added to it per year.
2. The fishing process is described in hundreds of literary works. Even the list of authors would take too much space. However, the landmark works are still worth noting. The most poignant work entirely devoted to fishing is probably the story of Ernest Hemingway "The Old Man and the Sea". On the other side of the imaginary scale of tragedy is the enchanting story of a trout from Jerome K. Jerome's Three Men in a Boat, Not Counting a Dog. Four people told the hero of the story the heartbreaking stories of catching a huge fish, a stuffed animal of which hung in a provincial pub. The trout ended up being plaster. This book also provides excellent instructions on how to tell about the catch. The narrator initially ascribes 10 fish to himself, each caught fish goes for a dozen. That is, having caught one small fish, you can safely tell your colleagues stories in the spirit of "There was no bite, I caught a couple of dozen of everything, and decided not to waste time anymore." If you measure the weight of the caught fish in this way, you can make an even stronger impression. From the point of view of the conscientiousness of the description of the process itself, Victor Canning will be out of competition. This author of spy novels in each of his novels in the most careful way described not only the process of fly fishing, but also the preparation for it. Fishing, as they say, "from the plow", is described by Mikhail Sholokhov in "Quiet Don" - the hero simply puts a small net on the bottom and by hand drives out the carp buried in the silt into it.
"The trout was plaster ..."
3. Presumably, fish live at all depths of the world's oceans. It has been proven that sea slugs live at a depth of 8,300 meters (the maximum depth of the World Ocean is 11,022 meters). Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh, having plunged 10,000 meters in their "Trieste", saw and even photographed something that looked like a fish, but the blurred image does not allow us to firmly assert that the researchers photographed exactly the fish. In subpolar waters, fish live at sub-zero temperatures (salty sea water does not freeze at temperatures down to -4 ° C). On the other hand, in hot springs in the United States, fish can comfortably tolerate temperatures of 50-60 ° C. In addition, some marine fish can live in a howl that is twice as salty as the average for the oceans.
Deep-sea fish do not shine with beauty of shape or graceful lines
4. In the waters off the west coast of the United States, there is a fish called grunion. Nothing special, fish up to 15 cm long, there is in the Pacific Ocean and more interesting. But grunion spawns in a very peculiar way. On the first night after the full moon or new moon (these nights are the highest tides), thousands of fish crawl out to the very edge of the surf. They bury the eggs in the sand - it is there, at a depth of 5 cm, that the eggs ripen. Exactly 14 days later, again at the highest tide, the hatched fry themselves crawl to the surface and are carried out into the ocean.
Spawning grunions
5. Every year around 90 million tons of fish are caught in the world. This figure fluctuates in one direction or another, but insignificantly: a peak in 2015 (92.7 million tons), a decline in 2012 (89.5 million tons). The production of farmed fish and seafood is constantly growing. From 2011 to 2016, it increased from 52 to 80 million tons. On average, one inhabitant of the Earth per year accounts for 20.3 kg of fish and seafood. About 60 million people are professionally engaged in fishing and fish breeding.
6. An excellent political and economic riddle is presented in the famous two-volume book by Leonid Sabaneev about the fish of Russia. The author, however, due to the vastness of the material he mastered, presented it simply as an interesting case, without going deep into the analysis. In Lake Pereyaslavskoye, 120 families of fishermen were engaged in catching vendace, a separate herring species, which, however, did not differ much from others. For the right to catch herring, they paid 3 rubles a year. An additional condition was the sale of herring to the merchant Nikitin at a price set by him. For Nikitin, there was also a condition - to hire the same fishermen to transport the already caught herring. As a result, it turned out that Nikitin bought vendace at 6.5 kopecks apiece, and sold at 10-15 kopecks, depending on the distance of transportation. 400,000 pieces of caught vendace provided both the welfare of 120 families and profits for Nikitin. Perhaps it was one of the first trade and production cooperatives?
Leonid Sabaneev - the author of brilliant books about hunting and fishing
7. Most of all sea fish are caught by China, Indonesia, USA, Russia and Peru. Moreover, the Chinese fishermen catch as much fish as their Indonesian, American and Russian counterparts combined.
8. If we talk about the species leaders of the catch, then the undisputed first place should have belonged to the anchovy. It is caught on average about 6 million tons per year. If not for one “but” - the production of anchovy is steadily decreasing, and in 2016 it lost its reinforced concrete, as it seemed a few years ago, the first place to pollock. The leaders among commercial fish are also tuna, sardinella, mackerel, Atlantic herring and Pacific mackerel.
9. Among the countries that catch the most fish from inland waters, Asian countries are in the lead: China, India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Cambodia and Indonesia. Of the European countries, only Russia stands out, ranking 10th.
10. Conversations that all fish in Russia are imported have no special grounds. Fish imports to Russia are estimated at $ 1.6 billion per year, and the country is ranked 20th in the world by this indicator. At the same time, Russia is one of the ten countries - the largest exporters of fish, earning $ 3.5 billion a year for fish and seafood. Thus, the surplus is almost $ 2 billion. As for other countries, coastal Vietnam is bringing fish imports and exports to zero, China's exports exceed imports by $ 6 billion, and the United States imports $ 13.5 billion more fish than it exports.
11. Every third of the fish reared in artificial conditions is carp. Nile tilapia, crucian carp and Atlantic salmon are also popular.
Carps in the nursery
12. An ocean research vessel operated in the Soviet Union, or rather two vessels under the same name, "Vityaz". Many species of ocean fish were found and described by expeditions on the Vityaz. In recognition of the merits of ships and scientists, not only 10 species of fish were named, but also one new genus - Vitiaziella Rass.
"Vityaz" made more than 70 research expeditions
13. Flying fish, although they fly like birds, their flight physics is completely different. They use a powerful tail as a propeller, and their wings only help them plan. At the same time, flying fish in one stay in the air are able to make several shocks from the surface of the water, extending their flight up to half a kilometer in range and up to 20 seconds in time. The fact that from time to time they fly onto the decks of ships is not due to their curiosity. If a flying fish gets too close to the boat, it can be caught in a powerful updraft from the side. This stream simply throws the flying fish onto the deck.
14. The largest sharks are practically safe for humans. Whale sharks and giant sharks are closer to whales by feeding method - they filter cubic meters of water, getting plankton from it. Long-term observations have shown that only 4 species of sharks regularly attack humans, and not at all because of hunger. White, long-winged, tiger and blunt-nosed sharks in size (with a large tolerance, of course) are roughly comparable in size to the size of a human body. They can see a person as a natural competitor, and only attack for this reason.
15. When the saying appeared in Russian, “That's why the pike is in the river, so that the crucian carp does not sleep,” is unknown. But already in the first half of the 19th century, Russian fish breeders put it into practice. Finding that fish living in artificial conditions of ponds degrades rather quickly, they began to launch perch into the reservoirs. Another problem arose: voracious predators were destroying too many valuable varieties of fish. And then a simple and cheap way to regulate the perch population appeared. Bundles of Christmas trees, pines, or just brushwood were lowered into the hole to the bottom. The peculiarity of perch spawning is that the female lays eggs in lumps of several pieces attached to a long ribbon, which she wraps around algae, sticks, snags, etc. After spawning, the “skeleton” for the eggs was raised to the surface. If it was necessary to reduce the number of perch, they were thrown ashore. If there were few perch, the Christmas trees were wrapped in a fishing net, making it possible for a larger number of fry to hatch and survive.
Perch caviar. Ribbons and eggs are clearly visible
16. Eel is the only fish, all of which spawn in the same place - the Sargasso Sea. This discovery was made 100 years ago. Before that, no one could understand how this mysterious fish reproduces. Eels were kept in captivity for decades, but they did not produce offspring. It turned out that at the age of 12, eels set off on a long journey to the east coast of America. There they spawn and die. The offspring, slightly stronger, goes to Europe, where they rise along the rivers to the habitats of their parents. The process of transferring memory from parents to descendants remains a mystery.
Acne migration
17. Legends about unusually large and old pikes, spread since the Middle Ages, penetrated not only fiction and popular literature, but also some specialized publications, and even encyclopedias. In fact, pikes live an average of 25-30 years and reach a weight of 35 kg with a length of 1.5 meters. The stories about monsters in pike appearance are either outright fakes (the skeleton of “Barbarossa's pike” is made up of several skeletons), or fishing tales.
18. Sardine is called - for simplicity - just three very similar species of fish. They differ only by ichthyologists and are absolutely identical in structure, texture and culinary properties. In South Africa, sardines flock into a huge school of billions of fish during spawning. Along the entire migration route (and this is several thousand kilometers), the school serves as food for a huge number of aquatic and feathered predators.
19. Salmon going for spawning use several methods of orientation in space. At a great distance from the place of birth - salmon spawn in the same river in which they were born - they are guided by the sun and stars. In cloudy weather, they are assisted by an internal “magnetic compass”. Coming closer to the shore, the salmon distinguish the desired river by the taste of the water. Moving upstream, these fish can overcome 5-meter vertical obstacles. By the way, “goof” is salmon that swept away the eggs. Fish become lethargic and slow - an enviable prey for any predator.
Salmon is spawning
20. Herring is a Russian national snack not from prehistoric times. There were always a lot of herring in Russia, however, they treated their own fish rather scornfully. Imported, mainly Norwegian or Scottish herring was considered good for consumption. Their own herring was caught almost exclusively for the sake of the melted fat. Only during the Crimean War of 1853-1856, when the imported herring disappeared, did they try to salt their own. The result exceeded all expectations - already in 1855, 10 million pieces of herring were sold in bulk alone, and this fish firmly entered the everyday life of even the poorest layers of the population.
21. In theory, raw fish is healthier. In practice, however, it is better not to take risks. The evolution of fish in recent decades is somewhat reminiscent of the evolution of mushrooms: in ecologically unsafe areas, even from time immemorial, edible mushrooms can become dangerous. Yes, there are no parasites in sea and ocean fish that are inherent in freshwater fish. But the degree of pollution of some parts of the oceans is such that it is better to subject the fish to heat treatment. At least it breaks down some of the chemicals.
22. Fish have great pharmaceutical potential. Even the ancients knew about it. There is an ancient Egyptian list with hundreds of recipes for substances to fight various diseases. The ancient Greeks also wrote about this, in particular, Aristotle. The problem is that research in this area started rather late and started from a very low theoretical base. They started looking for the same tetrodotoxin obtained from puffer fish only because they knew for sure that this fish is extremely poisonous. And the suggestion that shark tissues contain a substance that blocks the spread of cancer cells turned out to be practically a dead end. Sharks do not really get cancer, and they do produce the corresponding substances. However, for the past decade, the case has been stuck at the stage of scientific experiments. It is not known how long it will take until the possible drugs are brought to at least the stage of clinical trials.
23. Trout is one of the most voracious fish. Under suitable conditions, a trout individual eats food equivalent to 2/3 of its own weight per day. This is quite common among species that feed on plant foods, but trout eats meat food. However, this gluttony has a downside. Back in the 19th century, it was noticed in America that trout, which feeds on flying insects, grows faster and grows larger. The additional waste of energy for meat processing affects.
24. In the 19th century, dried fish, especially inexpensive, served as an excellent food concentrate.For example, the entire north of Russia was fishing for smelt in rivers and lakes - a degenerated purely freshwater version of the famous Petersburg smelt. A nondescript-looking small fish was caught in thousands of tons and sold throughout Russia. And not at all as a beer snack - those who could then afford beer preferred more noble fish. Contemporaries noted that a nutritious soup for 25 people could be prepared from a kilogram of dried smelt, and this kilogram cost about 25 kopecks.
25. Carp, which is so popular in our latitudes, is considered a trash fish in Australia, and in recent years it has become a continental problem. Australians refer to carp as "river rabbit" by analogy. Carp, like its eared land namesake, was brought to Australia - it was not found on the continent. Under ideal conditions - warm, slow flowing water, a lot of silt and no worthy enemies - carp quickly became Australia's main fish. Competitors are driven out by eating their eggs and stirring up the water. Delicate trout and salmon are fleeing from the murky waters, but they gradually have nowhere to run - carp now make up 90% of all Australian fish. They are being fought at the government level. There is a program to stimulate commercial fishing and carp processing. If the fisherman catches and releases the carp back into the reservoir, he is fined 5 local dollars per head. Transporting live carp in a car can turn into a prison term - carps released into an artificial reservoir with trout are guaranteed to ruin someone else's business. Australians complain that carps grow so big that they are not afraid of pelicans or crocodiles.
Carp infected with herpes as part of the Australian government's special anti-herpes program
