Cuttlefish - How exactly does one cuddle a fish?

First, I must apologize for my writing delay. It's funny how one thing can lead to another, and all the while, time keeps on ticking. Next thing you know, a week or month, or year has passed. A good reminder to make sure that you do not procrastinate, if you know your thought is the right thing to do, take the time to do it. Fit it in to your day, your life, your routine...the Nike corporation was right...”JUST DO IT”.

Enough about Tiger Woods (who, by the way, was in Australia last week playing in the Australian Masters – Australian's are just ga-ga over him – and he won!).

ANYWAY...

Yasmin and I are in Torquay (pronounced “Tore – Key”) for the next few days. I have had the lovely opportunity to meet her parents, Tony and Kath, and sink my toes into the pristine waters which lap up on the south Australian coastline.

And what a coastline it is. From afar you can see the turquoise water and the deep dark blue water form a line of demarcation not far from shore. Up close, the water is cool and crystal clear (except for various pods of seaweed and kelp). Now when I say cool, I mean about 15C (C for Celsius). Which, I believe, is the perfect segue for a discussion (not really a discussion, unless you choose to comment, this is more a one sided dialog...which at times can be lonely...I'm not whining, just saying...). So...without further ado...Celsius...

Here in Australia, the metric system is in full use. Actually, the metric system is in full use in most of the world. I grabbed this fact from Wikipedia:

“According to the US CIA World Fact book in 2006, the International System of Units is the official system of measurement for all nations except for Burma, Liberia, and the United States."

Ergo, when in Rome...yadda, yadda, yadda...but seriously, I have to convert to metric. Yasmin and I developed a simple system for converting temps, which may come in handy if you are going to read my blog. Here it goes...every one (1) degree C equals 1.8 degrees F. That being said, every 5 degrees C equals 9 degrees F. Here's a handy chart:

Celsius Fahrenheit
0º 32º
5º 41º
10º 50º
15º 59º
20º 68º
25º 77º
30º 86º
35º 95º
40º 104º

Australia has experienced quite a heat wave this spring...temps in Melbourne have already hit 36º, and in Adelaide, the temps have hit 40º. Remember, it is spring here...kind of like our May month.

So, now that you are all metric savvy, I will only refer to temps in Celsius...more on centimeters and kilograms later....

Back to the coastline of Australia. Today was a gorgeous day with the temps hovering around 20C. This morning, Yasmin and I drove Jemmah (her beautiful border collie) to the dog beach. The sun was bright, the skies bluer than blue, and the breeze off the ocean a bit “fresh”. We walked along the shore, throwing rocks into the water for Jemmah to bound after, when I spied something white against the tan colored sand. I called Yasmin over and asked her what it was. A cuttlefish, was her reply. Intrigued, I started collecting them as we walked along. Having never seen a Cuttlefish, I looked it up on the web when we got home. Here's what I learned.


“Cuttlefish belong to a group of animals known as cephalopods. Cephalopods are a sub group of a much broader group of animals known as mollusks. Most mollusks possess an external shell consisting of one or two parts, such as oysters, abalone, scallops and snails. The shell in most cephalopods has been reduced in size (or completely lost) and shifted to the inside of the body to form a structure more like a backbone, and it is this cuttlebone which is often seen as cuttlefish washed up on the beach. The giant Australian cuttlefish is one of the largest cuttlefish species in the world, and can reach up to 60cm mantle length and weigh up to 5kg.” from the Government of South Australia PIRSA Fisheries website.

Here are some of the cuttlefish I found along our walk. I placed my foot in the picture to give you some sense of size.



I found some VERY large cuttlefish “backbones”, but they were broken, so I did not photograph them. I will be on the look out for large “cuttlebones” on all future outings.

I must leave you now...I am having FISH AND CHIPS with Kath, Tony and Yasmin...well, not really. Yasmin and Tony will be having curry vegetables with Udon noodles, compliments of Yasmin, and Kath and I will be having fish and chips compliments of the fish and chips shop. Yum. Will write with more frequency.