Sunday, August 22, 2010

Ptooey

So I'm looking at this photo of the fountain at the Huntington Gardens. Lovely fountain, right? Pretty garden, nice statue, blah blah. It's so idyllic, any second now a unicorn will come along and nibble the grass.

But something bugs me. A question: do fish spit?

Fortunately I have at my fingertips a marvelous tool called the internet. I google "fish spit" and up comes fishspit.com. It is no help whatsoever. (I think they should change the subheading to "don't expectorate too much" but hey--it's not my website.)

I read other links about spit. They tell me what spitting is. I know what spitting is. I'm not going to link you to definitions of spitting.

Then Eureka! I find a video about the Archer fish. I hope you'll click the link and watch it. It's like Finding Nemo meets The Matrix. Indeed, fish do spit.

29 comments:

Hilda said...

Your commentary got me chuckling so much I just had to watch the video. It's as interesting and funny (the last bit) as the story of your search. Thanks for the laugh, Petrea.

And the garden — and your composition — are lovely. :)

pasadenapio said...

I love this photo.

There are "spitting" fish on the courtyard fountain at Pasadena City Hall. I think their spit has to travel farther than any I have ever seen!

Dina said...

I'd prefer to say the fountain fish are spewing. But then, you never would have discovered the incredible spitting archer fish. How do they DO that??

Jean Spitzer said...

Good golly, I am so impressed by those archer fish; great find.

John Sandel said...

Wait—if the Chieftess reads this and spews, is that redundant …?

Petrea Burchard said...

Hi Hilda! I'm glad you like it. Thanks for coming by.

PIO, I didn't know we had spitting fish in our fountain. That's more wonderful than I could have wished for. I must visit and see if I can get them to spit at my camera.

Dina, it's something with their gills and the configuration of their mouths. They also know how to aim through the refraction of light due to the water. The video is amazing.

Hi Bogdan, welcome!

Jean, the archer fish is an example of something I may never have known about if I didn't have a blog. Gotta love the web.

J, I hope Chieftess has learned her lesson not to sip before reading.

Pasadena Adjacent said...

Well goodness; that was strangely informative.

Katie said...

Who knew that one of your fantastic fountain photos from the Huntington could lead to a totally cool video of spitting fish?! I guess physics teachers should now be asking their students, "Are you smarter than an Archer Fish?".

ben wideman said...

that video is AMAZING! But really, we should ask the Huntington to install a fountain in which a fish is depicted spitting at a lit cigarette.

Petrea Burchard said...

It's an odd one, is it not, PA?

Katie, I'm glad you showed up. I took this during your visit. You may recognize the light of that day.

Ben, perhaps that's why they installed spitting fish in the fountain at City Hall.

Linda said...

Very droll. I will now examine any fountains I can find (and we don't have many - who needs a fountain when it rains most of the time?) to see what is spitting.

Speedway said...

We have bronze catfish on a fountain downtown, all spitting water towards a circle of happy, dancing nymphs. But catfish, koi and carp are the Roombas of rivers and streams; one would think there's just about nothing that could make them spew!

J.J. in L.A. said...

We have a (poolside) dolphin that spits - and yes, dolphins do spit. But I came across a question on kgbanswers.com that made me laugh...

"Do dolphins rape people?"

A. No. Dolphins don't rape people. They're just known to rub against people like dogs do!

Shwew! ; )

John Sandel said...

If a dolphin rubbed against me llke my old Schnauzer did, I'd yell for the lifeguard.

Greg Sweet said...

I think I'll make a camel fountain - camels spit and they conserve water.

Petrea Burchard said...

Linda, you can't talk me out of visiting Scotland.

Speedway, what's a Roomba?

J.J., you always bring something interesting to the blog...

J, you too.

Greg. Let us know when that fountain is finished. I'd love to photograph it for PDP.

Speedway said...

What with me bein' in one of the flyover states and all, I thought you guys had everything out there in Cally-forn-i-a. I'd have one in a second, but they don't have a capacity large enough to contain my negligence. :-)

A Roomba is a remote-contolled robotic vacuum cleaner. Lots of videos on YouTube showing cats riding the Roomba. See link below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewdbilSWjaM

Greg Sweet said...

DANG! Somebody beat me to it! (cursed Imagineers)...

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2553/3783599748_c6b2320d5f_b.jpg

mark said...

Fish are crazy creatures. One time I was ice fising on Lake of the Woods in northern Minnesota, we drilled through 40 inches of ice to get to water, I lowered my bait and soon an eelpout swam up the ice hole and belched at me. Then he turned tail (literally) and swam back down the ice hole. Im sure he laughed all the way back.

Petrea Burchard said...

So that's a Roomba. I wonder if they make 'em big enough for Boz. The video's a hoot.

Oh Greg. I'm so sorry. Ha! Yes, very sorry you won't be gracing the San Gabriel Valley with the likes of that.

Mark, that is hilarious.

Susan Campisi said...

Thanks for the science lesson. The YouTube title says it all: Archer fish from weird nature.

What *would* we do without the web? Probably go through life never knowing spitting fish exist.

HearkenCreative said...

Funny videos, both (the Archer Fish and the Rhoomba Cat). I don't know anything about fish spit, but a local guy does a humor website entitled "Monkey Spit" [http://monkeyspit.com/ ] — I wonder if Monkeys can do that awesome trick like the Archer fish?

TheChieftess said...

No spewing for me today...Petrea's right...I learned my lesson!!!!

Now I've seen spitting fish in many a fountain...never once did I wonder about or question the concept...now I have to ask...what about the spewing lion fountain in my photo from Rome????

TheChieftess said...

I just saw the title...giggle, giggle!!!!

Petrea Burchard said...

Monkeys like fish. Do fish like monkeys?

Chieftess, to giggle is good. Giggling is ladylike and usually doesn't involve spewing.

TheChieftess said...

Hmmmmm...I think that's the first lady like thing I've done in ages!!!!

Margaret said...

You know what? That's kind of amazing

Pasadena Homes for Sale said...

Great photo. Reminds me of a photo I took at Descanso Gardens with the spitting fish.

Petrea Burchard said...

Sounds like one I need to see.