"I wanted this book to extol the biological wonders of fish, showing
them to be animals deserving of our attention and compassion... The book is
my attempt to reveal fishes in their full glory, among them animals that
shout with colors, some that dance, and cheat (and say sorry afterwards),
they can live for centuries or pack in a lifetime to a few short months,
they can swim across entire ocean basins and back again without ever getting
lost."
—Helen Scales
Marc Bekoff: I recently read a fascinating book by award-winning marine
biologist, author, and documentary maker Dr. Helen Scales called Eye of
the Shoal: A Fishwatcher's Guide to Life, the Ocean and Everything.1,2
The ambitious title caught my eye, and I wasn't disappointed—Dr. Scales's
book is an encyclopedic and easy read about the highly evolved cognitive and
emotional lives of these diverse sentient beings, who display different
personalities and clearly feel pain. Indeed, the book covers an amazing
number of topics about what happens beneath the surface and lives up to what
the New York Times calls, “A sprawling, ambitious underwater journey studded
with fascinating tidbits.”
I was thrilled Dr. Scales could take the time to answer a few questions
about her landmark book. Here's what she had to say.
Why did you write Eye of the Shoal?
I wrote the book as a celebration of the extraordinary and, I think, a
profoundly underappreciated group of animals, the fishes. They lead
remarkable lives beneath the waterline, which most people don’t get to see,
and instead, they think of fish simply as food. The book is my attempt to
reveal fishes in their full glory, among them animals that shout with
colors, some that dance and cheat (and say sorry afterward). They can live
for centuries or pack in a lifetime to a few short months; they can swim
across entire ocean basins and back again without ever getting lost.
Ultimately, I hope the book will encourage readers to think again about
these animals, and the seas and freshwaters they inhabit.
I also hope to inspire readers to become fish watchers. There’s a lot to be
gained from this pastime: Peacefully watching fish in a public aquarium has
proven health benefits, lowering heart rate and blood pressure. Wild fish
watching is even better; peer into a pond or a lake and contemplate those
mesmerizing swimming movements, gaze into tide pools, or jump right in and
take a look at what’s beneath the waterline. I guarantee it will do you a
lot of good.
How does your book relate to your background and general areas of
interest?
By training, I’m an ichthyologist. I studied marine science and my Ph.D.
research took me to Borneo, where I studied the love lives of a big,
beautiful, highly endangered fish species called the humphead wrasse. In the
book, I write about my experiences searching for them on a remote island in
the South China Sea.
Interwoven with my academic interest in fish life is my love of being in the
oceans. I’ve been scuba diving since I was 16 and later trained as a
freediver, and I’ve spent hundreds of hours underwater watching fish (and if
I’m honest, doing my best to be one). It’s one of my very favorite things to
do.
Who is your intended audience?
The book holds obvious appeal to people who are already fascinated by the
oceans and freshwaters (especially scuba divers and snorkelers, including of
the armchair variety), and I also aimed the book at readers with a general
curiosity in the living world and in humanity’s relationship with other
animals.
What are some of the topics you weave into your piece, and what are
some of your major messages?
The book explores many of the facets that make fish life unique, including a
suite of survival tricks that are seen nowhere else among the vertebrates.
For instance, hundreds of species have evolved the ability to glow in the
dark. Fish are also the only animals that can produce electric shocks to
hunt and defend themselves, and there are more venomous species of fish than
there are snakes. Among tens of thousands of species, fish have a lot to
tell us about the possibilities of life on Earth.
Fish also hold a lot of surprising secrets that aren’t obvious until you
spend time observing them in the wild. Fish talk to each other; they listen
and sing. They perform amazing feats of coordination as they swim in
seething shoals that seem to have a mind of their own, but are really the
combined force of so many individual, quick-minded animals all striving to
survive.
While much of the book explores the amazing biology of fishes, it also
includes a series of fish tales. These are my retellings of traditional
stories from around the world, all involving fish as key characters. These
demonstrate the close ties between people and fish, which have manifested in
many ways; fish are sometimes imagined as lucky and smart companions or
malevolent beasts with the power to control earthquakes and storms. My
favorite is the original version of the tale of Cinderella, in which instead
of a fairy godmother, she has a goldfish!
How does your book differ from others that are concerned with some
of the same general topics?
I made the deliberate choice not to write a great deal about overfishing and
the other threats to marine life, partly as I think this is something other
books already do well. I touch on the problems fish face, but I wanted this
book to extol the biological wonders of fish, showing them to be animals
deserving of our attention and compassion.
In particular, I focus on the cognitive abilities of fish, which have been
underestimated for so long. The misguided attitude towards fish is summed up
in the lingering myth that goldfish have seven-second memories (or is it
five?), and in the idea that fish can’t feel pain. I delve into the fish’s
mind and find out what scientists are still learning about their complex,
nuanced lives.
My hope is that raising awareness about the remarkable lives of fish will
help prime people to care more about these animals and their plight in the
wild.
Are you hopeful that things will change for the better as people
learn about the cognitive and emotional lives of fishes and how we are
wiping out these amazing beings?
I am cautiously optimistic that things are going in the right direction.
Slowly attitudes are shifting, and fish are being gradually embraced within
the circle of animals that people tend to care about. The psychological
dividing line between the water and land, between them and us, will, I hope,
become less and less important.
But I’m quite sure it will take a good deal of time still to for enough
people to push for the change we need in the way fishes and their natural
habitats are treated.
What are some of your current projects?
I’m just putting the finishing touches to the manuscript for my next book,
The Brilliant Abyss, about life in the deep sea (due out in 2021).
We’re living through a golden age of deep-sea exploration, but at the same
time, the deep sea is under greater threat than ever from human activities.
The book examines this uneasy balance between exploring and exploiting this
realm that’s full of hidden marvels and is vital for the health of the
entire planet.
My first book for young readers will also be published in 2021. The Great Barrier Reef is a large-format picture book with beautiful illustrations to accompany my text. It’s about the science of Australia’s great reef, the history of how it formed, the people who have lived there and explored it, and naturally, I turn an eye to the future and consider the grave threats to the world’s largest barrier reef.
References
You can read more about the amazing cognitive and emotional lives of fishes
in these books and essays:
Dr Helen Scales is a marine biologist, author and documentary maker. When she’s not on or under the waves, she writes and talks about the connections between people, science and the living world, the oceans in particular. Among her BBC radio documentaries she has explored the dream of living underwater and searched for the perfect wave, and she presents the podcast Earth Unscrewed which explores innovative ways of solving environmental problems. Her books include the bestseller Spirals in Time which was picked as book of the year by The Economist, Nature, The Times, and The Guardian. Her stories of the oceans appear in magazines and newspapers including National Geographic Magazine, The Guardian and New Scientist. Helen teaches at Cambridge University and is scientific advisor to charity Sea Changers which helps to safeguard British seas. Her BBC documentaries are Making Waves and The Life Subaquatic. She lives part of the year in Cambridge, UK and the rest by the sea in the far west of France.
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