Friday, July 10, 2009

Facts about Flounder

I'm reading an awesome book called "Oceans: An activity Guide for Ages 6-9" and I am finding out all sorts of cool things!

Did you know, that when a Flounder fish is born, it looks and swims like a regular fish, and then as it grows, it starts leaning to one side and one eye starts moving, until it is flat, whence it moves to the bottom of the ocean to live as an adult! ha!

Here is a funny folktale about why the Flounder is flat:

"Once, there was a lobster and a flounder who were good friends. Their favorite game was hide and seek. The only problem was, Flounder always found Lobster really easily, because the lobster's antennae were always sticking up and around things. Lobster was getting more and more frustrated at being found, and this was made worse because he had the hardest time finding Flounder. Day after day this happened, until Lobster became very angry. When Flounder came out of his hiding place, Lobster was so mad he rushed over and stamped on the flounder until he was flat. With all that stamping, one of poor flounder's eyes fell into the sand. Then Lobster felt bad about stomping on him. So he picked up Flounder's eye gently, and put it back on, right next to Flounder's other eye. And that is why Flounder's are flat and why his eyes are on the same side of his body to this day." ~ Nancy F. Castaldo

1 comment:

NanC said...

Thank you, Emily about your kind words about OCEANS! It was one of my favorite books to write. If you are anywhere near New London, CT - I'll be reading from one of my new titles at Fish Tales, Tugs & Sails 2009. Here's the link: http://newlondonmainstreet.org/events/fishtales2009.php

Nancy
www.nancycastaldo.com

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