Tuesday, October 07, 2008
Tilapia
One way to live.
Some of the fairways at Changi Golf Club course are bounded and crossed by storm water drains. Water flows continuously along these drains. At a casual glance the drain channels are lined with silt and regular patches of clean inverts at about a metre distance apart. At a closer look at these patches, there are tilapia fish steadying themselves upstream against the slow flowing water, their movement keep those areas clean. These fish are about three to eight inches in length. They do not swim about but remain at each its own spot and live.
What an easy life, stay where it is and feeds on what comes along. Nature does have its providence, and for those who know how there is no need to work, no need to hunt or get hunted, and food passes by for picking and choosing.
Is life like that not great ? Now who wants to have this kind of paradise ?
Well, paradise is only when good times prevail. During a prolong drought these drains do get dried up. Also when heavy rains pour these drains fill up and overflow, and everything in it get swept out towards the sea. During these bad times how does the tilapia fish cope ? Who knows, I do not, ha ha ha ha !
But of course they do not get annihilated; because if they did I would not have this story to tell. These tilapia do know how to take the easy way of life and survive.
In the wet market, the red variety tilapia are quite expensive, about ten bucks per kilogram. These red tilapia have easier lives, they are well fed regularly and grow to about a foot long, but they all end up as a dish on the table.
Ron
Some of the fairways at Changi Golf Club course are bounded and crossed by storm water drains. Water flows continuously along these drains. At a casual glance the drain channels are lined with silt and regular patches of clean inverts at about a metre distance apart. At a closer look at these patches, there are tilapia fish steadying themselves upstream against the slow flowing water, their movement keep those areas clean. These fish are about three to eight inches in length. They do not swim about but remain at each its own spot and live.
What an easy life, stay where it is and feeds on what comes along. Nature does have its providence, and for those who know how there is no need to work, no need to hunt or get hunted, and food passes by for picking and choosing.
Is life like that not great ? Now who wants to have this kind of paradise ?
Well, paradise is only when good times prevail. During a prolong drought these drains do get dried up. Also when heavy rains pour these drains fill up and overflow, and everything in it get swept out towards the sea. During these bad times how does the tilapia fish cope ? Who knows, I do not, ha ha ha ha !
But of course they do not get annihilated; because if they did I would not have this story to tell. These tilapia do know how to take the easy way of life and survive.
In the wet market, the red variety tilapia are quite expensive, about ten bucks per kilogram. These red tilapia have easier lives, they are well fed regularly and grow to about a foot long, but they all end up as a dish on the table.
Ron
# posted by chunmu @ 7:46 PM 
