This is my post for #freewriters Sunday prompt stripes hosted by @mariannewest
I thought about stripes as the prompt and did not know what to write about. I did what I usually do, I started scrolling through my pictures and see what jumps out at me. FISH, what else would jump out at a fisherman? So this post is about fish with stripes.
The fish in the top photos is a Horned Puffer, we call them horny toads. It has stripes that go from head to tail, stripes that go up and down from eye to cheek, and stripes that go around its mouth. Sharks and some other big fish are the only ones to dare feed on horny toads.
The stripe looking things on this Remora are actually suction cups or something like that, they hang onto big fish with them. I can slap it against my boat and it will stick to it.
The Snook has a stripe that runs from the back of its head to the tail. Years ago people would not eat a snook because it tasted like soap. Then one day someone took the skin off and cooked the meat, the soap taste was in the skin. Snook is one of the best fish that you can eat. It is very mild, with no fishy taste.
Lionfish also have stripes that are different sizes and go up and down. You do not want to mess with one of these when they are alive. They have spines with poison in them, when alive they inject it into you as a hypodermic needle would do. Once dead, they are harmless.
For years this fish was called a Jewfish, The name ruffled feathers so they are now called a Goliath Grouper. Maybe I am different but if I was Jewish, I would love to have a fish named after me. Anyway, its stripes are kind of whacky, some are stripes and some are splotches.
I do not know what this fish is called, I have caught them in the past, but not many. It has the colors of a pigfish, a stripe like a snook, and a spot like a redfish.
photos are mine