Lunar fantasies
The small story of a fish, cloaked in the cosmos
A few (!) years ago I read about the small and unassuming Galaxias fish. So named because the patterns on their skin looks like a galaxy of stars. They are sometimes called Mountain Trout.
Galaxias are found in the Southern Hemisphere, some species dating back 90 million years to Gondwanaland. Some of the forty-odd species still with us are threatened with extinction, often because they are endemic to very specific locations. For example, the beautiful Stocky Galaxias (art by Tracie MacVean to raise awareness of their plight).
I was enchanted, thinking about the incredible untold adventures of Galaxias, in streams, rivers and lakes, from mountains to the sea. Although freshwater is their home, some species migrate downstream, in order to send their larvae out to sea.
Autumn and Spring is a very important time for these fish as it is during the Autumn new or full moons when they migrate downstream. The babies emerge in the Spring, out at sea, and then start their epic adventure to return to their freshwater homes from the wild seas of their youth. It fascinated me as to why and how this pattern of migratory life evolved in a vast landscape fraught with patterns of unpredictable drought. I found a statistic that in one bad year of drought, one species of Galaxias experienced a dramatic decline of upstream migration of >90%.
Lack of water in streams and tributaries can have a devastating impact on this small, unassuming fish species. So beautiful, but so humble and quiet that most of us are oblivious to their epic migratory story playing out each season.
So, about twelve years ago now, when all this was swimming around in my head about the wonder of Galaxias, the Mountain Trout adventurer, I wrote a silly poem to celebrate their Spring lunacy. I felt helpless and didn’t know what else I could do. Humans are silly sometimes.
LUNAR FANTASIES Boobook Owl peeking from leafy branches Full moon eyes laughing. Possum playing frivolous games tonight With laddish Wombat, Chasing night-hawk dragonflies. Everyone has the urge to run Spring madness has begun. Not far, there’s Cat Dizzy from nepeta Eyes bright and mischievous. He holds a basket for Mouse Who is brambling by moonlight. Collecting juicy berries Dreaming of summer cherries. In the stream Surface stillness ripples. Mountain Trout kissing tiny insect feet Straining upwards so far, to see Whirling patterns of starry sky Not knowing all the while He wears his own cloak of galaxies More beautiful than his lunar fantasies. Even humans succumb To the maddening springtime fun. By day, leaping fences in paces Wearing breeches and fine laces. Dreaming, by night, of new spring flowers And of deep sleep in their scented towers. No creature has immunity The wonder of Spring-time lunacy.