Doomsday fish

 

Yes, oarfish. That´s the new apocalyptic sign, apparently. From a channel which previously promoted the idea that 3I/ATLAS is alien tech and that the Blood Moon was some kind of doomsday event. And yet, here we are. And how many stranded oarfish are we talking about, anyway? Two? Three??

Here is ChatGPT.

Are oarfish known as "doomsday fish" and associated with earthquakes and tsunamis?

Yes — the fish you’re thinking of is the Oarfish, and it is often called a “doomsday fish.” But the reputation is mostly folklore rather than science.

Why oarfish are called “doomsday fish”

In parts of East Asia, especially Japan, oarfish are traditionally believed to predict earthquakes or tsunamis. In Japanese folklore they are called Ryūgū-no-tsukai, meaning “Messenger from the Sea God’s Palace.”

The idea is that when these deep-sea fish appear near the surface or wash ashore, it signals that something is wrong beneath the ocean floor.

This belief gained attention after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, because several oarfish had washed up on Japanese beaches in the preceding years.

Why people connect them with earthquakes

There are a few speculative reasons people propose:

• Deep-sea disturbance theory – If tectonic activity changes pressure or releases chemicals, deep-sea animals might become disoriented and rise toward the surface.

• Rare sightings – Oarfish normally live hundreds of meters deep, so when one appears it seems mysterious or ominous.

• Sea-serpent appearance – Their long ribbon-like body (sometimes over 10 m long) historically inspired myths about sea monsters.

What science says

Scientists have actually tested the idea.
A statistical study in 2019 concluded that the link between oarfish sightings and earthquakes is an “illusory correlation.”

In other words:

• Earthquakes happen all the time, so coincidences occur.

• Oarfish occasionally wash up because they are sick, dying, or injured, not because of seismic events.

Bottom line

• Folklore: Oarfish = omen of earthquakes or tsunamis.

• Science: No reliable evidence of any predictive relationship.

---

Interestingly, because of their strange appearance and deep-sea habitat, oarfish are also one of the animals often proposed as a historical source for sea-serpent legends.

If you want, I can also show you:

• why deep-sea fish sometimes suddenly appear near the surface, or

• some other animals that people historically believed could predict earthquakes (there are several fascinating ones).

 

The Number of the Fish

 

Here we go...

Is there some hidden Pythagorean number mysticism in the fish miracle of Jesus?

Yes—many interpreters (especially in mystical, symbolic, or Pythagorean-influenced traditions) have thought that the miracle of the fishes contains hidden numerical symbolism. The key passage usually discussed is John 21:11, where the disciples catch 153 fish. That oddly precise number has fascinated readers since antiquity.

Below are the main ways people have interpreted it.

---

1. The Pythagorean Triangular Number Interpretation

The most famous numerical interpretation is that 153 is a triangular number.

A triangular number is the sum of consecutive integers:

1 + 2 + 3 + ... + 17 = 153

This was well known in ancient Greek mathematics associated with the Pythagorean tradition.

Because 153 = T₁₇ (the 17th triangular number), some interpreters argue the number was deliberately symbolic.

One early Christian who mentioned the number’s significance was:

• Augustine of Hippo

Augustine suggested the number reflects spiritual completeness.

He noted:

• 10 represents the Law (Ten Commandments)

• 7 represents the Spirit or divine gifts

10 + 7 = 17

Then the triangular number of 17 gives 153, symbolizing the fullness of divine law and grace gathered together.

---

2. Universal Mission Interpretation

Another early interpretation comes from:

• Jerome

Jerome reported a tradition that ancient naturalists believed there were 153 species of fish in the world.

Thus the miracle symbolized:

The apostles gathering people from all nations.

Whether that zoological claim was true or not, the symbolism of universal evangelization became common in Christian exegesis.

---

3. Geometric/Pythagorean Symbolism

Some modern esoteric interpreters point out that:

153 has interesting mathematical properties.

For example:

153 = 3 × 3 × 17

And it also appears in certain vesica piscis geometries.

The vesica piscis (“fish bladder”) is a geometric figure formed by the intersection of two circles. It became a Christian symbol because its shape resembles a fish.

In some geometrical constructions, ratios related to 153 appear when measuring lengths in that figure.

This has led some writers to suggest hidden sacred geometry symbolism.

However, historians debate how intentional this was.

---

4. Numerological Interpretations

Later mystical traditions sometimes assign symbolic meanings to the digits:

1 → unity or God
5 → the human being (five senses, five wounds of Christ)
3 → divine trinity

Thus:

153 represents the union of God, humanity, and the Trinity.

This type of numerology is less historically grounded but appears in mystical commentaries.

---

5. Symbolism of Abundance

Some scholars think the number is simply meant to emphasize extraordinary abundance.

Ancient storytellers often used precise numbers to create vivid realism.

But even if that was the original intention, later readers quickly began interpreting it symbolically.

---

6. A Possible Pythagorean Cultural Background

It’s plausible that educated readers in the Greek-speaking world would have recognized triangular numbers.

The Gospel of John was written in a cultural environment where:

• Greek mathematics

• symbolic numbers

• philosophical allegory

were widely known.

So the use of 153 might have been intended to invite deeper reflection.

---

Conclusion

Several layers of interpretation exist:

Historical / literal

• a precise count of fish

Early Christian symbolism

• fullness of divine law and grace (17 → 153)

Universal mission

• all kinds of people gathered into the Church

Pythagorean mathematical symbolism

• triangular number and sacred geometry

None of these explanations is universally accepted, but the triangular-number interpretation is the most widely discussed among historians.

---

If you're interested, there is also a fascinating theory that the 153 fish miracle and the “fishers of men” motif connect to ancient Mediterranean fish symbolism and mystery traditions. Some scholars think the symbolism goes much deeper than most modern readers realize.

Hybrids like us

 

OK, the dog-fox hybrids are strange. Sure of that one? And why would conservationists "condemn" big cat hybrids? I mean, I assumed everyone loves ligers! Note also that polar bears are moving further south and hybridize with grizzlies as they go along. Are these hybrids fertile? If so, it seems the polar bear doesn´t need "saving", after all. Life will find a way. Finally, what´s up with those strange fish accidentally "created" by some crazy scientists in Hungary (I mean, where else)?   

10 of the strangest hybrid animals

Scientists accidentally create "impossible" hybrid fish

Walking with hybrids

 

- Hybrid? Me? Nah, I´m just an inplanted species!

A somewhat esoteric blog essay on "hybrid non-bird dinosaurs". Eh? Don´t tell the creationists and, whatever you do, don´t tell Eugene McCarthy!

In Quest of Hybrid (Non-Bird) Dinosaurs

The last spring

 

This is a scientific paper, so I frankly only skimmed it, but it´s still fascinating. I didn´t even know you *could* make research like this! As in: did the meteorite impact that killed off the non-avian dinosaurs happen in spring, summer or what? The answer, apparently based on a thorough analysis of fish fossils showing their life cycle, is...spring. Or "boreal spring", as the paper puts it. As in March to May. 

What a pity we can´t narrow it down even further, I mean, I would love to know the weekday! Don´t tell me, Monday?   

The Mesozoic terminated in boreal spring

Our cryptid cousins

 

OK, this was funny. Who would have thought that there are *cryptid* coelecanths? If an unknown animal is discovered, guess what, people suddenly see it everywhere and at all times...including half a planet away from where it was discovered?! But sure, the idea that people at Mallorca were catching and eating primordial lobe-finned fish until fairly recently does have a certain romantic appeal. 

Besides, two species of coelecanth has been discovered - not just one - the second one as late as 1998 (in Indonesia). So I suppose it´s possible that a few new species of this strange and wonderful fish (a *very* distant evolutionary cousin of...ourselves) might still be lurking out there...

Survivors

 

Credit: Guillaume Baviere 

So I just watched the second episode of "Sveriges hav" (The Seas of Sweden), and it seems most of it actually is about, you know, Sweden. The first episode was about the Shetland Islands?! The sequel has the subtitle "Östersjöns överlevare" (Survivors of the Baltic Sea). Gotland is featured, but a Danish island has also been sneaked in, and who knows what else. 

Not sure if anyone even survived this extravaganza of various animals munching on each other. Starfish attacking clams, herring gulls swooping down on eider ducklings, the Gotland subspecies of grass snake hunting for fish in the sea...but also seals generally basking in the sun, waiting for better times. You get the picture. There are also enormous populations of moon jellies in the Baltic Sea, apparently a problem since they eat too much (and hence presumably out-compete the fish eaten by humans). 

It seems Lake NATO is really a gigantic smorgasbord! May it survive for the benefit of future hungry generations, and so forth.

  

It´s still a tuatara, dude

 

Dude, moths and plants aren´t vertebrates. I mean, plants aren´t even Animalia. Still, it´s interesting to note that the tuatara is the fastest evolving vertebrate (chordate?) in terms of its genotype, while its physical appearence has apparently remained pretty much the same since time freakin´ immemorial. In other words: it still looks like a lizard, despite not being one!

Which animals are evolving faster?

God loves split gill mushrooms (and, I suppose, beetles) but hates the Iberian lynx. Or something.

What is the genetically most diverse species?

Don´t tell the creationists, I´m sure they can do *something* with this factoid...

The Moon might still have active volcanoes

Posted here for no good reason whatsoever...

Ray-finned body

 

So I searched Academia.edu for scholarly papers on "the rainbow body", a concept within Tibetan Buddhism. I got 5,800 hits! Which sounded kind of fantastic. 

But...

It turns out that most of them are fairly technical papers on - wait for it - rainbow trout?! But yeah, I suppose this particular bony fish may have an, ahem, rainbow body...

One of the papers about the fish does have a title that sounds almost Tantric: "The Kármán gait: novel body kinematics of rainbow trout swimming in a vortex street". 

But no, I haven´t read it.  

Feral GOLDFISH

 

Feral *goldfish* are lose in Lake Ontario, growing extremely large (at least for goldfish) and being generally annoying (and, I suppose, invasive). Note also that the pest goldfish aren´t orange anymore, but rather turn grey! Another absurd fact: goldfish are "adapted" to the bad environment of goldfish tanks, and therefore thrive in environmentally degraded parts of the Great Lakes?!  

Speculation, speculation...

 

A lot of speculation in this one. Or rather in the list the content-creator is commenting, a list of the ten most likely cryptids to be discovered during the 21st century. 

The list sounds like wish-fulfillment. 

From the top of my head (which is considerable - both the top and the head), the thylacine, the giant eel and the giant octopus seem to be the three most likely candidates. Since the other cryptids might not exist at all, their discovery - this century or the next - is *highly* unlikely...

Here´s a more certain prediction: there will still be enthusiasts in 2100 hunting the Gugu, the Megalenia or whatever cryptids will be on the top ten!

Guldfiskapokalypsen

 

Credit: City of Burnsville/AP

Av någon anledning skrattade jag faktiskt när jag läste detta. Am I losing it, or what? Ekosystem världen över hotas av guldfiskar stora som gäddor!  

Jätteguldfiskar hotar ekosystemen - i hela världen

The wrong cryptids

 

This may or may not tell us something about American TV production. Imagine seeing and taping a possible lake monster while making a TV show, but the footage is never shown (or even mentioned) since the show is about...monsters in the woods?! Specifically Bigfoot. Yes, it´s an interview with James "Bobo" Fay from "Finding Bigfoot". 

:D

Also some speculations about black mountain lions in the United States and "the Eastern cougar".      

The mother of all eels

 

“Monster: The Mystery of Loch Ness” is a 2022 Scottish documentary in three parts about the elusive cryptid supposedly living in the dark waters of Loch Ness.

The two first episodes looks promising, but the third reveals that most of the sensational “evidence” for Nessie is fake. The iconic “surgeon´s photo” from 1934 is now widely recognized as a hoax, possibly masterminded by media personality Marmaduke Wetherell (who had already been publicly disgraced when attempting an earlier Loch Ness monster hoax). The photos taken by American investigator Robert Rines were so convincing that they were published by the prestigious journal Nature in 1975, the article in question being co-written by prominent British naturalist Peter Scott. Unfortunately, they too were hoaxes. The “flipper photo” has been manipulated, while another pic shows a tree stump at the bottom of the loch! It also turns out that Rines had been directed to the locations where the photos were taken by some crazy old lady with a pendulum…

Operation Deepscan (1987), organized by the venerably bearded Adrian Shine (who looks almost like Charles Darwin), did pick up echoes of an object “larger than a shark but smaller than a whale”, somewhat ironically given Shine´s skepticism, but a later expedition showed that the loch simply doesn´t contain enough food for a monstrous animal. Interestingly, an analysis of DNA traces from Loch Ness samples show that there must be a lot of eels in the lake. In the end, there is therefore a certain possibility that at least some eye-witnesses are seeing real creatures: over-sized eels very far away from their Sargasso spawning grounds. According to all-knowing Wikipedia, a European eel can become 1.5 meter long and live for circa 80 years.

Still, something tells me the grandmama of all Anguilla isn´t exactly what the cryptozoologists and monster-hunters had in mind when they started looking into this particular mystery! A plesiosaur or dinosaur would be more fitting for the format. Still, I suppose it´s a good thing that our collective food supply has been secured…

Dead as a paddlefish

 

Or dead as a dodo named Mao? The Chinese paddlefish is officially declared extinct by the IUCN. 

So that was that, then. 

But apparently the paddlefishes as a group have been around for 120 million years, and there is still an (ugly) American species, so even 5,000-year old Chinese civilization has existed for only an instant compared to these peculiar creatures!  

A new theory of evolution

A very interesting article from The Guardian...

From the article: 

>>>Emily Standen is a scientist at the University of Ottawa, who studies Polypterus senegalus, AKA the Senegal bichir, a fish that not only has gills but also primitive lungs. Regular polypterus can breathe air at the surface, but they are “much more content” living underwater, she says. But when Standen took Polypterus that had spent their first few weeks of life in water, and subsequently raised them on land, their bodies began to change immediately. The bones in their fins elongated and became sharper, able to pull them along dry land with the help of wider joint sockets and larger muscles. Their necks softened. Their primordial lungs expanded and their other organs shifted to accommodate them. Their entire appearance transformed. “They resembled the transition species you see in the fossil record, partway between sea and land,” Standen told me. According to the traditional theory of evolution, this kind of change takes millions of years. But, says Armin Moczek, an extended synthesis proponent, the Senegal bichir “is adapting to land in a single generation”. He sounded almost proud of the fish.

>>>Moczek’s own area of expertise is dung beetles, another remarkably plastic species. With future climate change in mind, he and his colleagues tested the beetles’ response to different temperatures. Colder weather makes it harder for the beetles to take off. But the researchers found that they responded to these conditions by growing larger wings. The crucial thing about such observations, which challenge the traditional understanding of evolution, is that these sudden developments all come from the same underlying genes. The species’s genes aren’t being slowly honed, generation by generation. Rather, during its early development it has the potential to grow in a variety of ways, allowing it to survive in different situations. “We believe this is ubiquitous across species,” says David Pfennig of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 

Do we need a new theory of evolution?

In the land of Hvaldimir

 

Hvaldimir the Beluga Whale 
Credit: Ein Dahmer 

"Ut i naturen" is a Norwegian TV series featuring Kari Toft. I recently watched the 2019 season on Swedish TV. I admit I did it to get away from the distressing news about the war in Ukraine. The series is based on footage of nature and animals sent in by the viewers. Kari Toft then selects the best footage, and often travels to the location in Norway where it was made, which often leads to even more footage of familiar animals in slightly crazy situations. 

In  2019, the big star was (surprise) Hvaldimir, the "Russian spy whale", a mysterious beluga whale found on Norwegian territorial waters wearing a man-made harness with a small camera attached. Many suspected that the whale was used by the Russian navy to spy on the Norwegians, hence the funny nickname Hvaldimir (a pun on Vladimir Putin and the Norwegian word for whale, "hval"). However, since the harness was clearly marked "Equipment St. Petersburg" (Saint Petersburg is the second largest city in Russia), the theory of a secret spy whale seems far-fetched. The most likely origin of the poor creature was a location at the Kola Peninsula where the whale had been used as a therapy animal for children (i.e. an emotional support animal). Hvaldimir was unusually tame, and tourists from all over Norway traveled to Hammerfest, where the whale lived in the harbour area. Even the prime minister paid him a visit! 

"Ut i naturen" contains much other interesting footage, too. There is the family that lives with two wild otters which have gotten used to humans (including human children), the lumberjack who is almost harassed by flocks of hungry moose while felling trees in the forest, the albino roe deer, foxes freely interacting with people in a dog-like manner, and a lot of white-tailed eagles (sea eagles). The young eagles, which haven´t yet learned how to fly properly, play dead in their nests if approached by humans. Kari Toft can literally touch one of the eagles without the large birds reacting! Weirdly, the adults (which are even larger) don´t try to defend their nests against the intruders. Brown bears munching on a dead moose and whooper swans on the search for blueberries in the forest are other highlights. One episode is almost entirely about hedgehogs.

Most of this production is slow-paced, but a segment titled "Frykt" (fear) is anything but. Kari´s crazy associate Ludvig Lökholm Lewin is a recurring character in the series, and in every episode voluntarily gets stung or otherwise attacked by some dangerous animal, just to see what´s shaking. A fish called greater weever stings him so badly that he essentially screams like a maniac for one hour straight! Other encounters are with European hornets (a very large wasp), stinging jellyfish or leeches. It doesn´t look scripted...

While "Ut i naturen" is interesting, I admit that I don´t really like the human-animal interaction thing. Foxes are *not* dogs, otters are not cats, and moose showing up at your doorstep or licking at your car doesn´t strike me as behaving entirely naturally. Wildlife can carry all kinds of disease, and is better left alone. But sure, the fear factor was real. 

With that little remark, I close this review.  

Jawohl, mein kommendant Jansson

Om vi tvingar alla att vaccinera sig (och återinför slavarbete på skitfarliga fiskebåtar) så skulle det här problemet inte uppstå, herr Jansson. 

Slutsats: anti-vaxx är fascistiska samhällsfiender som vill ta ifrån lojala samhällsmedburgare deras JULBORD!!! 

Vaccinpass nu!!! 

Janssons frestelse i fara

Animals need to eat

Credit: Mihai C Popa

"Wild Greece: Highlands and islands" is a two-part nature documentary produced by the Austrian TV network ORT. When I saw it, I was *almost* shocked. Is it just me, or do nature docus these days no longer show predation, aggression and too explicit mating? Many times, the hunter becomes the hunted, smaller animals succesfully challenge larger, and so on. Not wrong, per se, but surely a new development? Except in this one! It seems animals (of all sizes and phyla) in Greece still devour each other in good ol´ social-Darwinist fashion, not to mention some pretty agressive mating habits (or intra-species fights in general). Or at least in the highlands and on the islands... 

There doesn´t seem to be any deeper point with this production (not that it must have one) except to show various spectacular Greek vistas (with not a single Greek in sight) and as many animal species as humanly possible within a two-episode format. Brace yourselves for vultures, falcons, pelicans, cormorants, all kinds of passerines...and that´s just the birds. Snakes, lizards (some of them pretty weird), moths, really scary orthopterans and allies, the inevitable feral goats, and surprisingly petit bears (well, at least they´re petit by bear standards) are some of the other highlights. And speaking of highs, they actually show Mount Olympus, the abode of the Hellenic gods according to traditional mythology. The gods are gone, but the mountain itself turns out to have more than one peak! 

Another spectacular site shown is the small island of Antikythera north of Crete, mostly known for the strange "computer" salvaged there from an ancient shipwreck. The mechanism is not shown (it´s a *nature* documentary, remember?), but seeing the island, I can understand why a ship might have gotten in trouble there! Today, the most notable nature-related site on the island is a large breeding colony of fairly large falcons (the species known as Eleonora´s falcon, to be exact). Apparently, the migratory birds spend the winter in Madagascar, so perhaps a docu from that place will show them, too? 

"Wild Greece" might be good for tourists who visited Greece and (of course) didn´t see any of the above, or for occasional nature documentary aficionados as yours truly, but might be considered immensely boring if, say, the trial of Socrates or the exploits of Herakles are more your thing...      

"There is no teleology in evolution" (part 4,421)

Wondering about the philosophical implications of this...

Speedy evolution: Sustained fast rates of evolution explains how tetrapods evolved from fish