All Choked Up...

   You can catch some of the oddest critters when throwing the net from the pier.  In fact, I never know exactly what might be in the catch.  Everything from the tiniest pipefish to a monster of a snapping turtle have been hauled to the pier.  Pipefish...I can handle.  Snapping turtles...I cannot.  Those critters tear up the entire net and are a pain to set free.  Not something I relish.  

  For the past week or so, some schools of shrimp have been making their way through the Bay and that calls for the locals to head down to their piers with the nets.  We never catch huge amounts but we are grateful for any we do.  During those throws we find our odd critters.  Yesterday's oddity (somewhat) is known as a hogchoker.  Mark caught several and I finally convinced him to get a photograph for me as my camera was safe inside the house.  The hogchoker is native here.  It is perhaps the flattest fish in these parts even more than the flounder.  A hogchoker only gets about 5 inches in length and is quite camouflaged in color.  This coloring allows it to blend well with the muddy bottoms where it hides.  Like all other flat fish, when it is born it has an eye on either side of its body but the "bottom" eye migrates to the top of the fish before it is a month old or about 1/2 inch in length.  Pretty cool!

  When my kids were little, they loved playing with the tiny hogchokers.  While I was throwing the net, a bucket of water and a few hogchokers kept the kiddos entertained.  After they played with the "suckerfish" (their name) for a while, they knew to return them to the same place where we caught them.  Odd critters make wonderful babysitters and provide plenty of learning experiences.  Teach 'em young, folks.  Teach 'em young!