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<\/figure>\n\n\n\n\u201cShells\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLook, fish.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cA lot of fish today\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere are tadpoles\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMore fish\u201d (pointing at the school of small fish swimming. Darting one way, and then another).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then one of the girls asks, while pointing out towards Derbarl Yerrigan, \u201cWhat\u2019s that white line?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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<\/figure><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n\u201cMaybe that\u2019s bird poo\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Walking towards the sandy beach, still on the concrete ledge, we can clearly see the lines of white-brown foamy stuff. We\u2019ve seen this foamy stuff before. It is what was carrying\/catching\/moving all those feathers a few weeks ago. Looking a second, third, and fourth time we notice that this foamy stuff is gathering at the concrete ledge. Foamy white stuff grows.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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<\/figure><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\nOne fish, two fish, three fish, all dead fish. That\u2019s how many we see bloated, swept up, but still part of Derbarl Yerrigan, on the foreshore. Finally, a child notices. We haven\u2019t seen dead blowfish (often called \u2018Blowies\u2019) here before. This is new. These are common blowfish, also known as banded toadfish and weeping toado, and most people find this fish to be a nuisance because they eat bait. Blowie is native to WA and keeps waterways clean by eating up waste scraps, bait and berley. Blowie and Djenark are similar; most humans don\u2019t like them, but they end up cleaning up after humans anyways!\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Blowies belongs to the family Tetraodontidae, and they typically have torpedo-shaped bodies, soft skin instead of scales, and fused teeth that form a beak. These fish also have the toxin, tetrodototoxin present in their skin, flesh, and internal organs. These toxins can kill animals, including humans, that eat them. Blowfish get their name because they are able to inflate their abdomens with water. This is a defence mechanism that makes the fish look bigger to predators. Blowfish also inflate their abdomens with air on removal from the water, and usually have trouble deflating. Therefore, it is best to get them back into the water as soon as possible.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s interesting to consider these dead Blowies as waste. What made the Blowies die? Old age, a predator, an injury, or a poison? Algal blooms naturally occur in Derbarl Yerrigan and will kill fish, but excessive nutrients and certain environmental conditions can cause larger growth. What if the poison can be traced back to a waste made by humans? Pesticides, that we use on plants and runs off into Derbarl Yerrigan is an example of an excessive nutrient.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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