KIDS CORNER

THE EEL AND CARP

STORY BY PATRICK VAN HOESERLANDE ILLUSTRATION PETER BOSTEELS

Another nice dive. In nice and warm water, at least with a diving suit on anyway. And good visibility. Skubba had seen a lot of fish.

When Skubba surfaced, he described all he had seen in great colour and detail. “I saw an eel swimming. That big,” he said with his arms wide open.

“What did it look like?” asked Fred. Fred had never seen an eel in real life, only in pictures and occasionally on his plate in ‘a green sauce or fried’, but never one swimming in water.

Skubba explained the fish details to Fred, “It had small fins, a long and round body, and a small trunk”.

“And how did the eel swim?” Fred asked curiously.

“A bit like a snake but underwater. The eel did not really swim, but snaked through the grass,” said Skubba.

Fred found it all very exciting. He wrote everything down in his booklet.

“I’ve also seen a carp,” Skubba said, his eyes blinking in excitement.

“A carp? What did it look like?” Fred wanted to know.

Skubba went on about its fins, tail, tarp, and its long and half-round body. But Fred couldn’t picture the carp Skubba described.

“Draw it,” he told Skubba.

They looked for a piece of soft soil and a stick. They smoothed the ground out a

bit, and Skubba started to draw. He was not very good at drawing, except in drawing divers, but he did his best to sketch the fish as well as he possibly could.

It had a long body with fins on its back and belly. A fanlike tail. He had problems with the trunk itself, but in the end, he was satisfied with his drawing. The head looked a bit like a weird shoe.

After having a good look, he proudly said, “This is what it looked like. This is the fish I saw.”

Fred briefly studied the drawing and replied, “But that’s not a carp!”

“Yes, it is. I saw that fish!”.

“I’m not saying you didn’t see that fish, but that fish is not a carp.”

“It is!”“No, it is not.”

“How do you know that this is not a carp?” asked Skubba.

“I have seen a picture of a carp and this does not look like it.”

“What is it then?”“I don’t know.”“Then it’s a carp,” Skubba said firmly.

“Let’s ask Nella. She will know,” Fred suggested.

“Good idea. You will see that I am right.”“Nella! Nella!” they yelled together.

THE PIKE

STORY BY PATRICK VAN HOESERLANDE ILLUSTRATION PETER BOSTEELS

Both friends looked at the drawing Skubba had drawn in the sand. “Nella! Nella!” they yelled together. Nella couldn’t possibly ignore them. She put her equipment aside for a moment and approached the boys.

They both pointed to the drawing Skubba had made in the sand.

“Nice drawing,” said Nella on seeing the sketch.

“That is the fish we saw on our dive,” Skubba told her.

After having a close look at it, she said, “That is indeed the fish we have seen!”

“You see, I’m right,” Skubba said, pushing Fred.

“Yes, but that’s not a carp. Is it, Nella?” asked Fred.

“No, that is not a carp,” she answered. Now Fred poked Skubba.

“An eel?” tried Skubba.

“No, not an eel either.” Nella took the sketching twig from Skubba and began to draw another fish in the sand.

“Voila, that is what an eel looks like,” she explained. “An eel looks a bit like a fish with the body of a snake. It has a small head, and a long body with a tail fin. It swims along the bottom”.

Both boys looked at the drawing and nodded in agreement with Nella’s explanation.

“The fish in Skubba’s drawing does not have these characteristics. His snout resembles a shoe. Do you see that?”

“Yes,” they answered in unison.

“Its body is thicker and shorter than that of an eel, and its fins are bigger,” she further explains, indicating the differences between the drawings.

“The fish we saw, is a...”“PIKE!” exclaimed Fred.

“Right, Fred. How did you know?” Nella asked while Skubba stared at him.

“If I look at its dorsal fin, tail and head, and I compare this with the drawings in my book, it looks a lot like a pike,” Fred explained pointing to the large drawing.

The fish in the sand was indeed like the one in his book, Skubba had to admit that. His friend was right again.

“You did well Fred.

Fish identification is not easy. Even with a book,” she explained.

“A good place to learn to identify fish is at an aquarium. There you will have the time to identify fish by the book and make sure you’ve got it right by checking it with the information panel of the aquarium.”

“Wait,” she said. She walked to her car and returned with a large plastic card.

“This is a Fish ID card that you can take underwater on your dives to recognise fish in your local area. See? Here is the eel and here is the pike.”

Fred took the card and together with Skubba, they looked for the pike.

“Can I take this with me on my next dive?” asked Skubba.