Anyway, sometime back in 2005, I wrote slightly about the fishes I keep in the fish tank in the garden. Nothing really great as they are of the small varieties such as swordtails, mollies, guppies and even shrimps (for variety purposes). Over time, they have...how should I put this - intermarried? - and produced hybrids which are rather beautiful and unique. I now have within that confined space, guppy-swordtails, guppy-mollies, molly-swordtails, and even several which I cannot identify. Perhaps, if I were to send them to a forensic lab, their identification would be made easier via DNA testing. But then, who cares? I mean, so long as they are good to look at and fun to observe, cukuplah, right?
Earlier this morning when I wanted to feed them, I found several of those strikingly beautiful hybrids afloat and lifeless. I picked them gently and found that since rigor mortis has yet to take place, their death must have been within recent hours. Nothing I could do but bury them beside emak's plants in hope that the nutrients from their body would act as fertiliser.
Er...no, that's not my fish up there. As I mentioned, I keep the small varieties only. The whopper up there is of the catfish strain and one of the best of its kind is found in Mekong River where they can grow up to twice of what those blokes up there carry. The most favoured part of the Mekong catfish are the eyes where purportedly, the money from the sale of a pair is good enough to last several long months for the lucky villagers. Oops, back to my story.
I guess the death of those fish is largely due to my neglect. Up to this date, my left foot still has some swell from the 10-11 Open House at Istana Negara. Though the swell has subsided a whole lot now, it has caused problem for me to clean the fish tank and its water pump; I am unable to bend or move fluidly without feeling pain. Anyway, the water pump has malfunctioned some 2 days ago and I have not been able to get a new one yet. The deaths could have been due to unregulated water which cause quite a significant increase in water temperature. InsyAllah, tomorrow, I'll go get one from a fish shop. Rest-In-Peace, my dear friends.
Hybrids can be very beautiful. But since human cannot control their DNA structure to perfection, the product of inter-marriage can never be certain, even in DNA cloning. Yet, scientist keep on researching to produce the best yield and are even willing to go beyond ethical science as has been proven in several cases. The most infamous of one such case was when meat-cows were given feed made from butchers' refuse such as bones , teeth and even fat. In doing so, the scientist either forget, or refuse to take into consideration that cows are herbivores; feeding them the butchers' refuse is almost like forcing the cows into cannibalism. The result of this is none other than Mad Cow's disease, which can have deadly effect on humans too were the meat of afflicted cows consumed. Still, they learn not from it.
Er...again no. That's not a picture of a cow ridden with the disease, though I would not blame anyone for thinking so. I would think that is a buffalo. Hey! I'm not a mad scientist who keeps a journal or photo-journal of such experiments, mind you. In fact, I'm not even a scientist. Just thought of teasing you there :)
Anyway - back to serious stuff, especially for muslims - these scientist are having a go at it again. The latest news I received is that they are trying to create a hybrid of Bari-Bari. This especially goes to lamb-chop lovers such as yours truly, Bari-Bari is the product of cross breeding between sheep and pigs! Yup, that's right! All the goodness of the sheep and all the diseases of the pig! Catch it here.
Yup! That's a picture of one of those Bari-Bari. Oops, 2 of them, sorry.
Personally, I don't think they have reached a mass production stage yet. But one can never tell, can one? So do be careful when you intend to buy lamb-chops from places which are suspiciously non-halal. I assure you, their looks alone can be more than fishy.
