Today I learned that cuttlefish experience REM sleep, and that it makes their skin flash random colors. This is the cutest thing ever.
The electric eel at my aquarium has a voltmeter attached to his tank, and whenever he pumps out a burst of electricity–either when he’s navigating his tank or getting fed–the meter lights up and makes noise. Sometimes, I’ll walk past him when he’s snuggled up and totally motionless on his log, and see the voltmeter going crazy.
I am left to assume that he is dreaming, and is sleep-zapping at the things in his dreams.
I am absolutely delighted to learn that electric eels dream of kicking ass.
They are, in fact, almost exactly like a real deep sea fish, Gigantura, and I CANNOT POSSIBLY PREPARE ANYONE for how stunningly fucking fantastic they really look.
I think that is in fact my single favorite face on our entire planet
Btw that’s both a visual and a literal Chinese pun and I’m literally laughing so hard right now (my parents say this every year) and I want everyone to understand this.
Here’s the two phrases you’ll need to know:
年年有鱼 (nián nián you yú) – “(I wish you have) fish every year”
年年有余 (nián nián you yú) – “(I wish you have) extra every year” – this is a common blessing used in China
Both the 鱼 and 余 characters sound exactly the same and here’s where the pun comes in.
Every Lunar New Year, as good luck, we eat “fish” so that we can “have fish every year”. In other words, we’re eating fish so that we can have extra every year.
Extra what, you ask? Extra everything! Extra money in the bank, extra food on our tables, extra happiness, etc, etc. It’s like an all-around blessing. Very kind and used often during Lunar New Year.
The cat has already gotten her “extra” (fish) for the year so the blogger is wishing you “fish” (extra) every year ^^
finally someone explained it, thank you<3
I am so delighted to learn that somebody else also has the tradition of eating puns for blessings on the New Year.
Why is every Chinese tradition or superstition I hear of based on a pun
you do this enough and they’ll just follow you home, bud. are you sure you want that kind of commitment?
(flamingos are filter feeders; this flamingo wants to swallow water with its food. Some food probably escapes the tooth-like internal filters of its beak, where it is of great interest to the fish and turtles.)
