Giant fish, tiny fish and Dilophosaurus

Greetings bottom-feeders!

This morning I didn't hit the water until 7:30. It was cold but clear. I managed to make three important observations today, which I would like to share with you all. This is despite several rude interruptions by "swimmers", whom I will deal with in a future blog post.

Here are the three discoveries I made this morning:

Gojira! The real Godzilla swimming.

1 - The Giant Blowfish, aka "Fishzilla". Slowly floating over a rocky outcrop, I watched as this beast drifted around the rock and stared straight at me. I tell you my friends, it was a foot long if it was an inch! By far the largest specimen of the deadly blowfish that I've ever come across. It would easily have weighed several kilograms -- large enough to be a man-eater? Needless to say, I didn't stick around to find out!

The real question is, was this just a one-off specimen; a Queen of some kind? The mac-daddy of the Trigg Tidal Pool? ... Or worse, was it just a scout for a new breed, a "super blowfish" if you will, which are probing into the Pool as a new hunting ground? This latter possibility is the most concerning. With the safety of snorkelers and swimmers in the forefront of my mind, I will keep an eye out for any other beasts like this, and report back to you here ...

2 - The Baby Fish. Floating under a rocky outcrop I thought I saw a swarm of particles, like a duststorm. I blinked and rubbed madly at the faceplate of my mask ... Then I ducked down to the sea-bed for a better look. These little fish were a centimetre or less long! And there was about 50 of them. I gently reached out a hand and they swarmed out of the way, like mosquitoes over a swamp. After this, they reformed in their original position, beneath the rock ledge. There were no adult fish in the area. This must have been some kind of fish "nursery".

I will try to find these baby fish each time I snorkel, and form a bond with them. My hope is that by the time they have grown into full-sized trout, they will remember me and will swarm around me, protecting me from Blowfish during my snorkels. My own fish army! I will become Lord of the Trout!

3 - Sand-spitting Trout. I noticed a few times that Trout can eject sand from their mouths, forming a small cloud in the water. This is clearly some type of weapon, probably used to blind and disorient other fish that try to eat them. It is also irrefutable proof that the common Trout is directly descended from the dinosaurs! Specifically, the Dilophosaurus, which can be seen in all it's acid-spitting glory in the scientific documentary, "Jurassic Park".

Venom Spitter! Dilophosaurus, ancestor of the Trout.

If you carefully look at this photo of the actual Dilophosaurus from the documentary, you can see the similarities in the jaw and eyes, to a Trout.

The fact that these kinds of observations aren't being made by scientific professionals (aka "marine biologists") is a pity. They are obviously too concerned with the bigger picture, the ecology, the sharks, etc. -- when they only need to look into a small tidal pool to discover a wealth of new information! New species, evolving under our very noses! And it's all being left to me, and amateur snorkelers like me, to discover and document.

But it's a job I'm proud to be doing.

May your flippers stay dry, and your tongue stay salty!

- Gray, Lord of the Trout