Fish in
the
News.
Each
week the
Bailey
Brothers
start
the Pet
Fish
Talk
Show
with
some fun
and
interesting
stories
about
fish in
the
news.

In Detroit, Michigan,
tattooed fish, like this Parrot Fish, showing
"I ♥ U", went on sale for Valentine's Day.

In Newport, Kentucky, this rare male Shark Ray was recently acquired by the Newport Aquarium.

In
Detroit,
Michigan,
Tattooed
Fish for
Valentine's
Day?

Pet shops are cashing in on the latest Valentine's Day craze -- exotic fish tattooed with pink lips and "I ♥ U." The fish are imported from Asia, where they are tattooed with an injection or a laser, leaving a permanent marking. At least seven pet shops in metro Detroit began selling the fish about two weeks ago for $39 to $50. Three have sold out. Animal activists decry the tattoos as cruel, and some pet shops are refusing to stock the fish for ethical reasons. "It's neat, but I'm opposed to it because it stresses the fish," said Junjun Cabral of Best Pets in Madison Heights, which won't stock the fish. Click here to read the entire story. Debbie G. set us an email with a link. Click here to see the video with tattooed pet fish. Thanks, Debbie.

In Bonn,
Germany,
at the
University
of Bonn
Inbreeding
helps
some
African
Cichlids

Inbreeding often conjures visions of mutant offspring, but scientists now find it can have its upside in the wild. Animals in the wild often avoid close kin as mates, as inbreeding causes harmful genes that might otherwise recede into the background to manifest in progeny more often. While animal breeders often practice inbreeding to cultivate desirable traits, they must then cull unfit offspring. However, recent theoretical predictions suggest that, at times, the benefits of inbreeding might outweigh the costs. Now evolutionary biologist Timo Thünken at the University of Bonn in Germany and his colleagues have discovered real-life evidence in support of these predictions. Click here to read more.

In Newport,
Kentucky,
Shark
Ray gets a
Valentine.

Chalk up
another
first
for the
Newport
Aquarium.
It has
acquired
a rare
male
shark
ray (see
picture
above) as a
companion
for the
female
Sweet
Pea, the
first
shark
ray
exhibited
in the
Americas.
Newport
is the
only
aquarium
in the
Western
Hemisphere
with a
breeding
pair,
and one
of only
two in
this
country
to
exhibit
shark
rays
(the
Long
Beach,
Calif.,
Aquarium
is the
other).
The
happy
couple
will
meet for
the
first
time on
Valentine's
Day,
when the
aquarium
launches
the
world's
first
shark
ray
breeding
program.
Click
here
to read
more.

In
Baltimore,
Maryland,
at John
Hopkins
University
Electric
Fish
Shed
Light on
how the
Brain
Works.

Scientists
have
long
struggled
to
figure
out how
the
brain
guides
the
complex
movement
of our
limbs,
from the
graceful
leaps of
ballerinas
to the
simple
everyday
act of
picking
up a cup
of
coffee.
Using
tools
from
robotics
and
neuroscience,
two
Johns
Hopkins
University
researchers
have
found
some
tantalizing
clues in
an
unlikely
mode of
motion:
the
undulations
of
tropical
fish.
Click
here
to read
more.

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