Re: NANFA-- for those of us who couldn't attend
Mysteryman (bestfish_at_alaweb.com)
Sat, 07 Jun 2003 10:17:01 -0700
Joshua L Wiegert wrote:
>
> I doubt fish would be universal.... They're hardly universal here...!
> Even if life began in the same way, in the sea and all, think of the many
> directions it might have gone.... If you look back at the cretacious
> extinction (about 250 MYA, the largest extinction known) you'll see there
> are many, many now exctinct branches of life. Its perfetly feasable that
> any of these may have evolved to take over the seas, rather than the ones
> that eventually gave rise to chordates and fish. That's assuming that
> life started in the same way, or didn't diverge from the same path far
> earlier.
>
Ah, yes..while actual fish may be unique to earth or very rare
throughout the galaxy, I still think that the waters of those far-flung
worlds would be teeming with things we'd call fish at first glance. Form
follows function, after all, and the fish form is very handy for living
in water.
What exactly IS a fish, anyway? What qualities do ALL fish possess that
are unique to them, making them fish? I'm sure somebody knows, but that
somebody isn't me. Every time I think I have it figured out, I think of
exceptions which derail me.
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