Don’t Watch This Video
I guess you should probably know that I love bichirs. They are a primitive air breathing group of fishes from Africa. I personally own six different species of them. I know what I’m talking about.
I found this while looking for videos of lungfish. It’s the worst video ever! The title is “My Pet Dinosaur an African Birchir a type of Lung Fish”. From the grammar and spelling in this video, I assumed that a child had made this, which would be excusable. According to the user’s profile, however, he’s 31 years old! Wow.
First of all, it’s “bichir”, not “birchir” or “bircher”. And SONOFABITCH they are not lungfish! Lungfish are lungfish! Yes, bichirs breathe air, but they aren’t lungfish! Bichirs and lungfish are not even in the same class. Lungfish, as I’ve said eight billion times this week, are more closely related to humans than they are to bichirs. This is an inexcusable mistake.
In the video, he also says that bichirs come from the Amazon river. Why the MOTHER EFFING HELL would an African fish be from the Amazon river? What an idiot! Maybe he has a debilitating brain injury. I shouldn’t judge.
He also says that bichirs use their pectoral and pelvic fins to walk on the bottom. I have six of them. I have never seen this. He says that you can’t tell a male from a female. Do some research, man!
Bichirs are ridiculously easy to sex, simply by looking at their anal fin, as shown above.
Last complaint before I show the video: He says that in the wild bichirs grow up to 4.5 feet long. Sorry, now you’re just lying. Maybe he’s confusing bichirs with real lungfish, some of which do get almost that big.
Seriously, don’t watch this. It’s eight minutes of your life you can’t get back.
Stumble it!
March 18th, 2008 at 6:59 pm
Tsk tsk. There are other fish much easier to sex. Hexagrammos decagrammus are easily distinguishable by coloration. Semicossyphus pulcher is a sequential hermaphrodite; the terminal male phase is a striking example of sexual dimorphism when compared agaisnt the female phase–as are many wrasses. If you want an anal fin example, Embiotocid males have a structure on the anal fin that is believed to assist in internal fertilization, and some species display mating colors (Cymatogaster aggregata males get quite dusky during mating season).
–SebastesMan
March 19th, 2008 at 5:49 am
You are my hero. I changed the wording of that sentence.
March 20th, 2008 at 1:28 pm
Outrage over a bad youtube