What the Dogfish Teach Us: Xu Chengyu's Column

Text / Xu Chengyu (Founder of Upwelling Ocean)

The Year of the Dog has arrived. What creatures in the sea are associated with dogs? The first thing that comes to mind is the "fur seal," but fur seals are not fish; they are marine mammals, and they were once an important commercial species. So what is a true "dog fish"?

Small sharks are actually dog fish?

Taiwan's past fisheries utilization was heavily influenced by Japan. In Japanese, you can hardly find any fish named after dogs, and in Chinese, you cannot find any fish named after dogs either. On the contrary, in English, there are many fish called "dog." The most common among them are the Spiny Dog sharks, similar to what we call "sha tiao." These small sharks, commonly found along the coast, were once a familiar food fish in the West. In addition, in rivers there is the Bowfish, which looks similar to our "gu dai," and it is also called "dog fish."

In the Year of the Dog, the power of cooperation is great

Taken together, these fish with "dog" in their names all share some common characteristics: low-level carnivorous organisms, large in number, congregating, acting jointly. They are neither the largest nor the strongest, but through collective action they have become an evolutionarily advantaged species.

So the greatest inspiration the Year of the Dog gives us is positivity and cooperation. What do you think?