N Simpson said:I escaped lunch with the in-laws and went for a short ride
this afternoon on some local trails.
Breezing through (wheezing too) the trails I came across a
pale object in the middle of the trail that was not a
rock, root, or other easily identifiable object.
Curious, I stopped and went back to look.
It was a catfish head, about 7 inches across. Mostly eaten
away, but enough left to make a 33 year old man jump back.
This was on a trail that is miles away from the nearest
pond/lake/body of water.
Those things are ugly enough whole, but headless, they are
an abomination of nature.
Simpson
bad dreams tonight, sleeps with the fishes
"Fish heads, fish heads, roly-poly fish heads! Fish heads,
fish heads, eat'em up, yum!"
Sorry, couldn't help meself.
Catfish really, truly are horrible, disgusting
creatures. Nasty scavengers... Water possums as far
as I'm concerned. Blech. My parents had a couple of
3 foot long channel cats in their little (30 feet
long, 15 feet wide, 5 feet deep) pond. In the summer
when the water would get too warm we'd always know
because those damned things would stick their heads
out of the water and let the cold (presumably better
oxygenated) spring water from the little waterfall
run into their mouths. Freaked me out every time I
saw it. I hated those damned fish. I'm not
especially squeamish, but I got finned by a catfish
when I was about 5 years old and I still remember
how bad it hurt. Instant infection from the
bacterial slime that does them in lieu of scales.
Since then, if I catch a catfish somebody else has
to get it off the hook for me, and if there's no
help to be had, I cut the line. I've gone scuba
diving with bull sharks and was reasonably
comfortable, but I believe if I encountered a 6 foot
long catfish, I'd probably be capable of walking on
water back to shore.
Kathleen