How do Fish Sleep?
So, as you can probably guess by this blog's URL, I have a fish tank. Fish ownership has taught me a lot of things about aquatic creatures that I wouldn't have known otherwise. For example, did you know that guppies are cannibalistic? I'm assuming it's that kind of thinking that kept them from developing thumbs.
Anyway, another thing I've observed is that, towards the end of the day, after it gets dark outside and the lights are turned off; the fish go down to the bottom of the tank and sort of lay on the rocks. It looks like they're sleeping, but I'm not really sure because I'm not really sure if it's possible for fish to sleep.
Sure, it's all fine and good if you're a tank fish. In a tank, you can cuddle up next to the statue of Thor (which is currently in my fish tank, don't ask) or you can lay down under the fake plants, but how do fish sleep in the wild? Like, I saw Finding Nemo just like everyone else, so I know that clown fish sleep in their anemones. That's fine for clown fish, but what if you were an 'out-in-open-ocean' kind of fish? How would you sleep in that situation? Think of whales, for example. There is not an anemone in the world that is big enough for a whale to sleep on. I think someone needs to build a Holiday Inn under water because that's the only way any whale is going to get any shut eye.
Even if you were a smaller fish, where would you sleep if you were far away from a reef? Would you just close your eyes and float along in the current? I guess that would work in a river or something, but I don't think fish in oceans do that, because, really, that's how you get eaten by sharks.
Speaking of sharks, I recently heard that some species of sharks need to move constantly in order to stay alive. Does that mean the sharks never sleep? I mean, I guess it would explain the whole eating people thing; you would be grumpy too if you hadn't gotten a good night's sleep since before you were born. But sharks don't live very long, so I guess that's okay for them. But think of sea turtles! Sea turtles can live for over one hundred years. Can you imagine not sleeping at all in one hundred years? Think of how much more time you would have, how much you could get done! You might even be able to figure out the 'difficult' sudoku puzzles in the news paper! If only I was a turtle, I would be a whole lot better at logic puzzles.
The world's a confusing place, isn't it?
Don't get me wrong, sleeping is one of my favorite activities, but the human race would be much further along as a species if we didn't spend so much time sleeping. Like, people might be going on camping trips to the moon by now. Who knows, we might even be on the same level of intelligence as the dolphins!
I'm not a Twilight fan, but consider that Edward Cullen is awake 24-7 and he has degrees from almost every university on the eastern seaboard, has gone to high school about a million times, has managed to get his hair to do that weird, wave thing (although why anybody would ever want to do that beats me), and has time to save Bella's life on a regular basis. Maybe, if the average human had eight more hours in their day to be productive, Twilight might even have been a decent book. Or, because Twilight was based on a dream, it might never have been written in a first place.
The world will never know.
Just sayin'
Anyway, another thing I've observed is that, towards the end of the day, after it gets dark outside and the lights are turned off; the fish go down to the bottom of the tank and sort of lay on the rocks. It looks like they're sleeping, but I'm not really sure because I'm not really sure if it's possible for fish to sleep.
Sure, it's all fine and good if you're a tank fish. In a tank, you can cuddle up next to the statue of Thor (which is currently in my fish tank, don't ask) or you can lay down under the fake plants, but how do fish sleep in the wild? Like, I saw Finding Nemo just like everyone else, so I know that clown fish sleep in their anemones. That's fine for clown fish, but what if you were an 'out-in-open-ocean' kind of fish? How would you sleep in that situation? Think of whales, for example. There is not an anemone in the world that is big enough for a whale to sleep on. I think someone needs to build a Holiday Inn under water because that's the only way any whale is going to get any shut eye.
Even if you were a smaller fish, where would you sleep if you were far away from a reef? Would you just close your eyes and float along in the current? I guess that would work in a river or something, but I don't think fish in oceans do that, because, really, that's how you get eaten by sharks.
Speaking of sharks, I recently heard that some species of sharks need to move constantly in order to stay alive. Does that mean the sharks never sleep? I mean, I guess it would explain the whole eating people thing; you would be grumpy too if you hadn't gotten a good night's sleep since before you were born. But sharks don't live very long, so I guess that's okay for them. But think of sea turtles! Sea turtles can live for over one hundred years. Can you imagine not sleeping at all in one hundred years? Think of how much more time you would have, how much you could get done! You might even be able to figure out the 'difficult' sudoku puzzles in the news paper! If only I was a turtle, I would be a whole lot better at logic puzzles.
The world's a confusing place, isn't it?
Don't get me wrong, sleeping is one of my favorite activities, but the human race would be much further along as a species if we didn't spend so much time sleeping. Like, people might be going on camping trips to the moon by now. Who knows, we might even be on the same level of intelligence as the dolphins!
I'm not a Twilight fan, but consider that Edward Cullen is awake 24-7 and he has degrees from almost every university on the eastern seaboard, has gone to high school about a million times, has managed to get his hair to do that weird, wave thing (although why anybody would ever want to do that beats me), and has time to save Bella's life on a regular basis. Maybe, if the average human had eight more hours in their day to be productive, Twilight might even have been a decent book. Or, because Twilight was based on a dream, it might never have been written in a first place.
The world will never know.
Just sayin'
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