This morning was my 7th morning out kayaking, I could’ve have done more days in the last week but I’ve been skipping low tide mornings because I hate carrying the kayak 100 metres out before you get to deep enough water, I know, excuses again. And one morning I was just freezing, honestly we don’t have aircon out here at Taurama but I think because we have so many windows upstairs its just wind-freezes everything after midnight. (Is there such a term as wind-freeze?).
So yeah, while I was out paddling I saw a Two Toea Fish in the flesh for the first time in the wilds of PNG waters. I’ve seen one before in an aquarium in Singapore years ago, but I’ve never seen one in real life before. It was happily (I hope it was happy) floating around a big piece of coral, I nearly capsized when I spotted it and quickly stuck the oar into the water to slow myself down to turn and watch. It was beautiful and quite graceful, even regal perhaps as it slowly fanned its fancy fins back and forth as if performing some dance on a watery catwalk.
And No, I didn’t take pics because, (some more excuses), last week I dropped my phone into the sea as I was stepping out of the Kayak, but that’s another story, so sorry about the name ‘Two Toea’, as you can guess the fish appears on our 2 toea coins which are no longer in circulation now. So on the record, the fish is known as a Lion Fish or Scorpion Fish. This is what they look like in real life.
Although, you have to wonder which is more rare now, the actual two toea or the two toea fish? (Apparently on Ebay a 1977 two toea coin is worth A$12.00)
Masalai blog 