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Fish vs water mammals

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by oz_media

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Okay, don't call me an idiot for recently realising this, it's probably common knowledge to most and I am just a wee bit behind the times.

Water mammals, whales Dolphins, seals swim differently than fish. How so?

Mammals have a flat tail which propells them by updown movement.

Fish have vertical tails which propel them by a sids to side movement.

Stupid? For all In know there are mammals that have FISH tails, I just couldn't think of any, so I thought it was like a epiphany of some sort.

60 replies

by dr dij

Mermaids

(maybe that's Fish Tales!)

And I hope you know that sea mammals breath air, not water with gills like fish.

In fact sea snakes, turtles also breath air, and some ashore to lay eggs as does a water spider.

I think you need to turn from MTV channel to Animal Planet channel more

by oz_media

I actually know all the other facts you stated, I own an orca whale (seriously, it's a cool program with the Vancouver Aquarium).

Living in POrt Hardy I spent countless hours in my kayak watching the whales off Vancouver Island, I have grown up around marinas and sea life. I even knew about the spinal cord differences, but never put two and two together to realize that the tails were different.

Like I said, call me stupid....but don't tell me to watch MTV, those clowns still owe me residual money. It's always a lawsuit when I deal with American companies, for some reason. They seem to think American law is Canadian law, so their contracts are always flaky and focused on themselves.

by dr dij

I was telling you to turn it off!

I used to watch it when it actually had music videos. Then they brought in those idiotic reality tv progs. Later they shifted the videos to a second channel which my cable company didn't have. So they've lost me for good even tho I think I now have the 2nd channel.

I'm kind of addicted to those an-plan shows. My wife doesn't like the animals eating each other, or the bizarre foods show, which I find fascinating (re: eating things you'd never eat in other countries)

And she thinks its a bad influence. Now I want to slog thru the Indonesian jungle, uphill in the rain, leeches, bugs for 3 weeks to discover new species (some 59 year old guy did that, looked like an ex marine)

or the shows where they pickup poisonous snakes or get close to spitting cobras without goggles. Or crawl into crocodile burrows (with crocs inside) in the name of science)

by Member 25348569

I've always wondered about mermaids. They are supposed to be the product of the sex-starved imagination of sailors and I can accept that, after three years at sea without getting any, ANYONE'S imagination will be running a bit wild...

BUT - and it's a biggie - why, then, are mermaids made up of the wrong part of the women and the fish? What you end up with is the bit of the woman that talks and not the bit that you're starving for.

Doesn't quite seem right to me...

:D

by maecuff

but if it were opposite, do you really want to have sex with a woman who has a fishhead? I guess desperate times call for desperate measures and all..

by tig2

Let us know when it starts wearing off... :D

I don't know of a mammal that swims by propelling it in a side to side movement. I believe all of them have the same swim characteristic. Also, all mammals need to breathe. Surfacing is not just a good idea, it's a rule.

by oz_media

Me is red in the face, but I was tellign someone else the other day, who is a pretty worldly and wise guy and he thought it was interesting also.

One thing for sure, I've SEEN a hell of a lot more whales than anyone here. PLPLPLPLPLPLPLP :p

I've been close enough in my kayak to dive in with one,but not quite dumb enough.

SO the talk thing got by me, I knew about spinal differences and how mammals move with compression vertebrae etc. Just the vertcial/horizontal thing never quite triggered somehow

by charliespencer

In Oz's defense, he was quite specific in pointing out his original observation was limited to locomotion.

"Water mammals, whales Dolphins, seals swim differently than fish."

He didn't say this was the only difference, or that he wasn't aware of the other differences between fish, amphibians, and mammals.

The really important question is since Patrick Duffy didn't have a tail, horizontal or vertical, on "Man From Atlantis", was he a fish, a mammal, or neither?

by tig2

Other.

I don't recall "Man From Atlantis" so that is likely to be as close as I get to the right answer!

The point I didn't make so well in my answer to Oz is that the up and down propulsion of water mammals (often called "porpoising") is reflective of their need to surface for air.

Remind me to not post in my sleep any more...

by oz_media

Even if you did know, you at least made light of it. If you DIDN'T know, join the club of morons I have now apparently started.

I challenge anyone of them to a race rebuilding a Carter thermoquad though. :)

Watch a few episodes of animal planet and they are all a bunch of marine biologists. pshaw!

by ontheropes

I do know what a Carter thermoquad is without looking it up. I think I've rebuilt one back when I had my '71 Charger. Don't want to race though.

by oz_media

Survivorman is a pretty good one, he goes all over and gets dropped off alone for 7 days. During that time he must survive and make his way back to a predetermined area where he is then picke dup. Pretty cool actually, except he sucked in teh BC/Alberta wilderness. While he did survive of course, he ate like a pauper and it took him a couple of days to build a fire in a suitable spot.

He gets dropped of fin scenario settings, ex. he was dropped off in the arctic with a snowmobile, he salavages a couple of bits and bobs of fit and makes his way back over 7 days. In another he had a mountain bike he disassembled for a drinking straw, needle etc., another aplane wreck etc.

by the scummy one

he never lasts 7 days. there is always a reason to call it quits and hook up with the team around day 4 or 5.

I understand where he is going with it, and many of the things he does are interesting, but they apparently dont work too well.

I have a survival guide that has more stuff in it though. Maybe they should have this writer go out and make the show. He claims to have done this sorta thing for years and goes more in depth with why to do things and what to look for and why not do it other ways, etc.

by ontheropes

I've watched it when they've had a Survivorman marathon. I don't know if they're still making new ones. Maybe it didn't get picked up for another season.

I found out from the show that they have survivor contests somewhere, kind of like the Ironman competition but for survivalists. That might be good to watch. Somebody needs to jump-start Discovery and make it happen.

by oz_media

I've seen it on once or twice but really don't watch it as it is usually very elemetary stuff. I do watch several others though, for similar muses. History, A&E, Discovery Channel, etc. I am usually very aware of this stuff, actually quite embarrassed now that I posted it. I know it is something I should know, but even I don't know everything, well perhaps NOW I do.

by oz_media

Then it must be 5 days he's in, he's never quit one and I've seen all of them at least once (f'in repeats!).

by w2ktechman

1 was in Alaska, he couldnt take the snowmobile across the lakebed, so they flew in the choppers to get him.

1 was in the desert, he couldnt obtain enough water or food, was not feeling well, and packed up 2 days early.

Those were the 2 times I saw it.

by locolobo

I do recall seeing them swim that way in TV shows. If you asked me an hour ago though...

You're right, it maked sense when you realize they're mammals and have spines similar to ours.

by maecuff

reminded me of conversations had after hitting the water pipe. You know.. a bong.

by maniacman

The flounder, fluke, and sole, but it's interesting to note that they are born looking like normal fish with vertical dorsal fins and tail, but as they mature, their eyes migrate to one side of their bodies and they basically start swimming on what's really their side.

by oz_media

INSTANTLY reminds me of a background vocal in one of the greatest solo projects by a former Pink Floyd member, and a fantastic concert.

"Shell fish
Guppy
Salmon
Shrimp
And crab
And lobster
Flounder
I hate fish
But I think most of all
I hate fresh fish
Like trout
I hate fresh trout
My least-hated, favourite fish would be sole
That way you don't have to see the eyes
Sole has no eyes."

by michael jay

just play the record..

I cannot believe you reminded me of the Radio KAOS. My kinda radio station.

by oz_media

The first time we moved to Canada, Nova Scotai at the time, my dad built me a little catamaran. I was out in the bay fishing while he worked a weekend at the boat yard and could see a HUE flounder on the bottom of the bay (less than 10' deep).

I was bobbing the rod and tapping the lure on his head and he wouldn't bite the damn thing. Frustrated, I started adding more and more weight, still wouldn't bite. After a good 20 minutes, I had about enough to knock him out and he still didn't bite,he finally just swam away.

So terribly scarring to my childhood that I remember it clear enough to draw a picture. :)

That's my "one that got away" story.

by oz_media

The second one is a legit bail out but the first was just common sense I think (probably an insurance policy issue, he is a producer on the network too), I remember those now.

by oz_media

Four of us did a three day once. We were dropped off, with bugger all, in three different spots in the Manning Park, B.C. area. Didn't have to make it out anywhere, just had to make it on our own for three days. Pretty cool, the amount of stuff you can build in all that time, kitchen, utensils, wood drying kiln, made a makeshift sluice box because the Similkameen river is full of gold, but not enough time to really play with it (cool fun though).

I've since done countless similar trips with a friends for weeks at a time but not in a real survival situation, more of a take f-all into the bush and hang out and enjoy B.C.for a while , just to escape it all. Why pay 2 grand to go to Hawaii for a holiday, it's gorgeous here too???

I like to watch those shows but it doesn't really blow me away. Like Survivor, that should be dropping people all over the place and the last one to not hit their panic button gets the dough. Instead it is TV and relationships, fun and games, booooo! SO disappointing! :)

Have a good weekend

by oz_media

I thew it by a buddy tonight too, and he thought it was kinda cool. He also knew about mammals breathing air of course, but gad never really considered the tail or swimming style.

Like they say, great minds think alike, but dumb ones seldom differ.

by Member 25348569

Well, no. But my point is that you CAN'T have sex with a woman with a fishes tail. Well, not in any meaningful way...

by Member 25348569

If it was a specific "you" as in "me", I might get a bit miffed.

As the conditions in the Royal Navy when mermaids were first imagined were pretty grim - "rum, sodomy and the lash" - your comment was pretty apt for the sailors in those times.

:)

by oz_media

There's a suitable coupling at either end, depending on which has been fishecized.

As for sex with fish headed women, don't knock it (you'd have to live in Vancouver for that one though).

by w2ktechman

those were the only 2 that I saw. But I may have seen another and dont remember.

Both were good sense. And both were in very extreme conditions. When he called it off in the desert, it was something like 140 deg. with no water/food. Already he had signs of massive dehydration.

by maecuff

'You' wasn't gender specific and it certainly didn't apply to just you. I just meant, that you (you being anyone) COULD have sex of some fashion with the just the upper half of the mermaid.

I would hate for you to be miffed.

(merry f'cking christmas?)

Ohh..it's December, so that shouldn't bother you anymore!

by oz_media

Well done! I must say I'm rather impressed to say the very least. VERY close anyway.

I 'believe' it was after the woman repeating "I like to be home, with my monkey and my dog"
then..
"I don't care, shut up, play the record."
(could be wrong, it's been a while)
Great album! I didn't really like his follow up releases though.

Saw the Chaos concert at a small outdoor bowl just after Expo 86 in Vancouver. They had the stage set up with a DJ booth and a large scrolling text banner that showed what was being said by the DJ and station caller and what was being played. In the audience they had a series of phone booths, so you could call into the onstage station and request songs. It was SOOOOOOOO cool! (And at that time I was still pissed at his exit from Floyd).

by michael jay

actually it was "They don't care, Shut up. Play the record" start the song "Home"

I have not heard anything more recent than Radio KAOS from Roger Waters.

The radio station and phone booths does sound really cool but I am rather impressed that a post starting out with the difference between mammal fish and fish fish turned into this strange gathering of thoughts.

by tig2

Are one of the many reasons we are all here!

My little rant against Best Buy has stayed sorta on topic...

by oz_media

Maecuff, you have raised some questions for me now. You say that any orifice will do, and that it is not gender specific. Having been involved with electrical cabling, automotive, machining etc. I have yet to see two female connectors that mate. As far as I knew, a female socket required a male end too or else it was half a connection.

Also, having had sexual relations once, I must say that the same goes for that too.

Now as much as I like to see two female sockets together, perhaps a in a double gang box for dual data connections(no that isn't dirty, look up low voltage electrical), it just doesn't work properly without the male connector too.

So in the case of a mermaid, as exciting as two mermaids would be together, your comment just doesn't work unless it is gender specific.

And who's to say Neil isn't a sailor boy either, he may not have been rammed in the stern or blown ashore, but it is kinda funny to picture him in a little sailors outfit.

What's wrong with the Village People anyway? Apart from the fact they suck, in a musical sense of course.

by oz_media

Had webbed fingers for propulsion as well as the up down undulations of his lower body, perhaps had webbed feet too but I don't remember that too well.

by dr dij

where they discover the lost city of 'Atlanta' under the sea. The southern gals are women on top and fish on bottom, genengineered with gills to survive under sea.

Fry falls in love and marries one till he discovers she lays eggs and he fertilizes, not as much fun :)

by tonythetiger

since water mammals must breathe air, they would have a tail structure more conducive to going "up and down" rather than "side to side". Think elevators vs. rudders.

by jaqui

don't ruin the fun with logic, Oz and logic are usually on the opposite sides of the room ;)

by oz_media

I'm pretty good with logic,common sense and reality but most people have a hard time facing the reality of logic over sensationalism.

Unfortunately I see things for what they really are most of the time, and it's not always pretty or PC that way. For this, my sense of logic gets bashed but really it's just a straight view on reality.

by oz_media

I smoked cigarettes for years, now cigars (still no cigs but hooked on cigars now...DOH!) I don't like pipe tobacoo though, the smell is okay but pipes seem too messy to me.

by oz_media

Gotcha?!

My friend's kid got a plastic drinknk cup from the PNE last year, you can buy them when you ride the Hellevator. Kinda like a barbell full of pop where the straw is the handle.

He left it in my truck one day and when his dad was with me a day or two later, he noticed it had been converted to an emergency bong. Emergency bong to a BC resident is for when you have left for the corner store and forgotten the bong.

Or so they say anyway. ;)

by oz_media

I was always taught there are two sides to every story, The obvious one, and the one I seek.

I always look for the other side to something, the main stream is juct too common and not thought provoking enough for me.

by oz_media

You should know me better than that. I was actually chuckling about this exchange with a friend last night, he said just like the Beatles had a 5th Beatle, I was the third member of Cheeck & Chong. It isn't really like that but it was still good for giggles.

by maecuff

Just because you KNOW you can pull the wool over my eyes, doesn't mean you SHOULD...

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