or: People and fish have something in common

I’ve been scrolling through my photos for this past week trying to decide what I would write.

I’ve realised that I take a massive amount of underwater photos (that’s not a surprise), quite a few of my students and, over this last week, nothing else.

It’s official.

Diving has become my life.

So I’m going to give you a diving tale.

One of the cool things about the undersea world is how many baby fish look absolutely nothing like the adult fish they become.

It’s also one of the challenges of fish identification since you need to remember both forms and sometimes the male and female variation too and there’s even another sex stage in that!

Anyway, when I’m leading a dive, I like to point out a few of the babies that do look different to their adult form and if I see the adult on the same dive, I’ll point to that too and ask the divers to remember them both. 

One fish that goes through quite a transformation is the Oriental Sweetlips. 

Unlike some others, it retains the black and white colours throughout its growth. It’s just the pattern that changes as well as its shape.

This is the part that I find interesting.

Actually, it’s my conversations with the divers afterwards that I find really interesting.

I show them pictures of these fish and they are always surprised.

It’s not just about the pattern change. 

It’s about the shape change.

Now, have a think about it.

Baby fish aren’t typically born the same shape as an adult fish.

Most come from eggs.

Only a few have live births.

Now, those coming from eggs aren’t going to hatch looking like fish. 

They will start as larvae and go through a tadpole-like phase before growing fins, their tail taking form and so on.

Their colours may also change and pattern shift over this time.

The part most people find hard to believe when they see the transformation is how one becomes the other.

If I’ve been able to see a few babies at different stages, this adds further to the conversation since the shape change is a bit easier to follow.

It’s fun to help explain this with the aid of any children that are around, particularly if they have dived with their parents.

I ask them, “did your children come out this size?” “Will they change shape into your size?”

Very entertaining if their children are teenagers and are already taller than their parents.

It’s done in a very lighthearted way because it’s not something that many seem to have considered and it is something that is also a funny and entertaining depending on how you do it.

A simple shift in what living creature we’re talking about then seems to help people understand why it’s not always possible for babies and adults to start life the same shape or size.

This leads to all sorts of discussions.

Ahhh the joys of perspective….

Perhaps this is why diving seems to have become my life!

Thanks to Michael Jackson for the title to this post.