Sheets of kombu (kelp) covered with herring roe; big white sacs of octopus roe. Among a biochromatic wealth of mysterious mollusks and other sea invertebrates of unknown nature, I see the weirdest creature I've ever seen. Now, that's a fucking organism. Tom Asakawa looks at it awhile, too. Hoya, or sea pineapple. "Sea pineapple," he says. "Attaches to rocks in the ocean. Tastes something like iodine. Sendai people like it." It looks nothing like a pineapple. It looks like something that could exist only in a purely hallucinatory eco-system. It looks like, I don't know, maybe an otherworldly marital aid of inscrutable purpose for the brides of Satan. "I need to eat that," I say. "I'll see what I can do," Tom says.

The Tuna Court: Law and Norms in the World's Premier Fish Market. [more inside]
posted by monju_bosatsu on Jun 2, 2006 - 20 comments

Damn, I likes me some catfish! The Giant Mekong Catfish isn't the only big fish to be found, though. Sadly, the behemoth is facing extinction, largely due to overfishing. Fortunately, some are working on saving the fish. Of course, fish aren't only found in the water.
posted by monju_bosatsu on Aug 26, 2005 - 19 comments