Karlology (29 page)

A
ll
I
g
ot
f
or m
y
£14 was an a
q
uatic
g
ui
d
e an
d
a ma
p
. A bit late for a map now, I thought. I could have done
w
ith that two and a half hours ago. I made my way down t
h
e corri
d
or, w
h
ic
h
h
a
d
tu
b
e-s
h
ape
d
l
ig
h
ts eit
h
er si
d
e
fill
e
d
w
it
h
water t
h
at was cramme
d
f
u
ll
o
f
b
a
by
j
e
llyfi
s
h
. T
h
e
y
’
d
use
d
t
h
e
j
e
llyfi
s
h
to create a
l
ava-
l
am
p
e
ff
ect. I su
pp
ose
w
hen you only have so much room, you have to be creative about how you display everything. Maybe they’ll have a
h
ammer
h
ea
d
s
h
ar
k
s
q
uas
h
e
d
into a too
l
b
ox, I t
h
ou
gh
t.

O
n t
h
e wa
ll
s were
fi
s
h
f
acts
:

Fish
h
ave
b
een on t
h
e Eart
h
f
or more t
h
an 450 mi
ll
ion years
.

Fish were well established long before dinosaurs roamed th
e
Earth
.

A
star
fi
s
h
d
oesn’t
h
ave a
b
rain.

I
d
on’t
k
now i
f
t
h
e
l
ast
f
act is o
ffi
cia
l
or i
f
a
fi
s
h
h
a
d
g
ot
o
ut of a tank when no one was looking and had done some graffiti
.

Next was a
d
is
pl
a
y
t
h
at
d
emonstrate
d
h
ow muc
h
ru
b
b
is
h
, an
d
w
h
at sort o
f
ru
bb
is
h
,
h
a
d
b
een
d
um
p
e
d
in t
h
e
R
iver Thames. “At least 1000 tonnes of rubbish is removed
f
rom the Thames every year”, it said. I’m wondering if this is w
h
ere t
h
e
f
e
ll
a wit
h
t
h
e s
h
op in St James’s got
h
is stoc
k
f
rom. They’d dredged up old TVs, radios, money, ca
m
e
ras, s
y
rin
g
es an
d
stereos
f
rom t
h
e river. I
d
on’t
k
now i
f
we s
h
ou
ld
b
e ta
k
in
g
a
ll
t
h
is awa
y
f
rom t
h
e
fi
s
h
– ma
yb
e
h
avin
g
these domestic appliances around them is how they will
l
earn to evolve into humans again.

R
o
un
d
t
h
e next corner was a
b
i
g
tan
k
surroun
d
e
d
by
p
unters. Two
f
e
ll
as in t
h
e tan
k
were
f
ee
d
in
g
some
fi
s
h
wh
i
l
e ex
pl
ainin
g
t
h
at scientists are
fi
n
d
in
g
new sea
l
i
f
e a
ll
the time, and that there is still a way to go before we discover everything that’s out there. “We know more about t
h
e sur
f
ace o
f
t
h
e Moon t
h
an we
d
o a
b
out t
h
e
b
ottom o
f
t
h
e sea”, sai
d
one o
f
t
h
em. I
d
on’t
k
now w
h
at t
h
e
y
are
d
oin
g
w
orking here, then. They should be down at the Science
Museu
m
.

T
h
ey’re guessing t
h
at t
h
ere are aroun
d
32,000
d
i
ff
erent s
p
ecies o
f
fi
s
h
, w
h
ic
h
ma
k
es me won
d
er w
hy
J
esus
f
e
d
5000
p
eo
pl
e wit
h
j
ust two
fi
s
h
. He cou
ld
h
ave
g
iven t
h
em
l
oa
d
s m
o
r
e
t
h
a
n
t
h
at.
I
t
hink
t
h
e
r
ea
l r
easo
n
t
h
at
sea
l
e
v
e
l
s
a
r
e
r
ising is that there’s too many fish in the sea. Jesus didn’t use u
p
enou
gh
o
f
t
h
e
fi
s
h
w
h
en
h
e
h
a
d
t
h
e c
h
ance. I
f
h
e’
d
g
iven ever
y
one aroun
d
fi
ve
fi
s
h
, t
h
e sea
l
eve
l
wou
ld
h
ave dropped. I think this is why sushi was invented – to get us to eat as many fish as possible in a small amount of time an
d
, in turn, get t
h
e sea
l
eve
l
d
own. T
h
ere was a
d
igita
l
display on the wall in the Aquarium stating that the world
e
ats aroun
d
two
fi
s
h
ever
y
secon
d
. It’s a
ll
d
own to t
h
ese sus
h
i
b
ars. T
h
e
f
act t
h
e
y
d
e
l
iver it to customers on a conve
y
or
b
elt is proof that they can’t get rid of the stuff fast enough
.

Another thing that makes me think there are way too many
fi
s
h
is t
h
e way peop
l
e strugg
l
e to t
h
in
k
up names
f
or t
h
em an
d
h
ave to reuse t
h
e names o
f
anima
l
s t
h
at are on
l
an
d
. T
h
ere’s a cowfish, dogfish, tiger fish, lionfish, flying
fox fish, rabbit fish and elephant-nose fish. They can’t keep up with the amount of fish they’re finding. I’ve heard there is a
l
so a
fi
s
h
ca
ll
e
d
t
h
e u
p
si
d
e-
d
own cat
fi
s
h
. I’m startin
g
to
w
on
d
er i
f
t
h
is was
j
ust a
d
ea
d
cat
fi
s
h
t
h
at t
h
e
y
d
i
d
n’t
h
ave time to realise was dead due to all the other new species they were in a hurry to name
.