Coming this Friday, my collection of fish Pronouns pins has expanded! (With a restock of Manta Ray They)
So excited to round out the group, which one is your favorite? 🐠
(Begin ID: On a blue Marque board are 9 wooden pins with different sea animals on them. She/Her Oarfish, He/Him Sunfish, They/Them Manta Ray, Xe/Xem Sailfish, She/Her Leafy Seadragon, He/They Ribbon Eel, It/Its cuttlefish, No Pronouns Blue Spotted Stingray, and No Pronouns Moonfish. End ID.)
After this 400 pound stingray was accidentally caught by fishermen, it was released back into its natural habitat in the Mekong River. CHHUT CHHEANA, WONDERS OF THE MEKONG.
Excerpt from this story from National Geographic:
As the Mekong River descends into Cambodia from neighboring Laos, flowing languidly past sandbanks and forest-covered islands, it’s hard to imagine the explosion of life that occurs underneath its surface.
In this stretch of river, about 100 miles long, up to 200 billion fish are spawned every year, helping to make the 2,700-mile-long Mekong one of the most fish-rich rivers on the planet. Deep pools reaching down 260 feet serve as refuges for some of the world’s largest and most endangered freshwater fish species.
This biological richness usually remains hidden from human view. But last week it surfaced, literally, as fishers hauled a 13-foot-long giant freshwater stingray, weighing almost 400 pounds, out of the Mekong’s murky depths. The fish had been captured accidentally after it swallowed a smaller fish on a baited hook. Not wanting to kill the female ray, the fishers called a rescue team, which managed to unhook it, weigh and measure it, and release it back to the river unharmed.
The Mekong River, which starts in the Tibetan highlands and runs through six countries on its way to the South China Sea, is recognized as a global biodiversity hotspot, with close to 1,000 species of fish found throughout its system. It supports the largest inland fishery in the world, providing livelihoods for tens of millions of people living in the region.