May Fishing in Phuket

Once again shipmates, welcome aboard.

The scuttlebutt this month has been few and far between possibly due to the weather and the lack of “fishing” tourists, although that jammy dodger Mateus who pulled last month’s Marlin and the only one who reported in, informed me of a large Sail Fish this month, with some 30+ medium to small Tuna to help fill, once again, Mena 1’s fish box, Good old solid, dependable timber, I think “If God had wanted us to have fibreglass boats; he would have given us fibreglass trees”.

A few months ago I wrote about the “Kraken” a fictitious sea monster, which drew a considerable amount of attention, so this month, I decided to write about another monster of the deep. A beastie so cleaver it needs brains all over its body, how do you fancy a brain in all your appendages including your reproductive organ. A beastie with a cloak of invisibility that even Harry Potter would be jealous of and an escapologist who could give lessons to Houdini.  Guessed the name yet???

OK. How about a shape shifter that can mimic other species who learns by observation and is totally self-educated, as the female always dies subsequently to looking after her eggs until hatching. This exceptionally clever animal has its brains distributed throughout its body – try to imagine your arms and legs being able to “independently” touch, feel and taste – your toes in a trifle, a beer in one hand while doing a jigsaw with the other. This would be child’s play for this odyssey of the all the world’s oceans. Guessed yet, me seafairin, swashbuckling, maties?

More clues:- And for those of you who have been at sea too long, our hatchling even grows up to be featured in “Shunga” early 19^th century Japanese  erotic art. They have three hearts and there are about 300 different species, all venomous, but only one dangerous, to humans.

Now I’ll make it easy for the landlubbers.

Our beastie is related to the oyster and squirts ink as part of its defensive strategy. He/she can fit through very narrow gaps or holes as long as it’s wider than the space between its eyes, hence they are never caught in traps unless they are taken by surprise when stealing bait. This seagoing cephalopod mollusc can swim, walk and is jet propelled, it has a powerful beak and eight arms and is a cousin to the squid and cuttlefish. Yes me hearties it’s the Octopus.

Well that’s it for this month shipmates, that’s me off for a bit of exercise. Where you may ask do pirates go to keep fit? O Arrr. It’s got to be – off to the Jim Lad!

Once again, tight lines to all.