Who's watching who

Who's watching who, originally uploaded by kaiwa_4.

The fish at the Albuquerque Aquarium appeared to be a bit under the weather.

Perhaps because the aquarium scientists make their own sea water instead of trucking it in from the Gulf of Mexico like most land-locked aquariums in the United States.

Those scientists may be smart, but they don't breathe sea water -- a valuable trait, in my opinion, when it comes to making sea water for fish.

Perhaps it was because the gigantic aquarium offered up-close views of the Albuquerque Aquarium restaurant, where human beings munched on fish salads and sandwiches. You watch your brethen get chomped every day and see how you feel.

Perhaps it was because the fish shared hte humungous tank with sharks, barracudas and sting rays. Hmmm. The tank's not so humungous after all.

Or perhaps it's all in our imagination.

Chris' father couldn't account for the balance of chemicals in the man-made water, but he offered some assurance that the sharks weren't chomping the fish.

The scientists, he said, had the fish on a feeding schedule that would "suppress the predator instinct." In other words, room service eliminates the need to hunt.

Of course, he added, there's still the matter of instinct. Some days a shark is going to want to chomp a fish just because.