I was on my way back from a trip on Sunday and my flight was delayed about 3 different times, but luckily for me (sense the sarcasm) we were stuck on the plane already when the delays were coming in. All and all we sat on the plane from 2:00 to 7:00, and left the gate 3 times. I was taking Jet Blue Airlines and as we all know, they provide their customers with personal satellite television. From 2-3 I watched Scrubs, then from 3-8:30 I watched Dirty Jobs. This show is hilarious by the way! After such an awful day of traveling, there was a bright side to it all. I learned some interesting facts about a shellfish and an ant that I just feel the need to share with everyone. It’s bizarre, I know, but these creatures are very peculiar.
The abalone is an endangered Pacific Rim shellfish, that I had never heard of until the show. It has a beautiful pearly shell that is sometimes used for decoration purposes. They are a popular seafood item, but are slightly expensive for each one because they are farm grown. Each abalone grows about an inch in 4 years so all the time and effort it takes to harvest them (going out to get their food and constantly nurturing them) really adds up, causing the price of each one to be so high. Interested in making an abalone meal but don’t know how to prepare it? Here are some recipes from “The Abalone Farm,” that will get you started.
Interesting facts about Abalones:
* Their blood does not clot, therefore if they get cut just a little, they will bleed to death
* They sometimes eat their own poo!
* They have a giant foot to move around with and that is what is eaten
* Their diet consists of giant algae (one of the world’s fastest growing plants, growing up to 4 inches per day!)
* They perform broadcast spawning:the female releases her eggs into the water and the male releases his sperm into the water, in hopes that they will find each other
Interesting facts about ants:
* They have a dump that is separate from their living, eating and social areas
* They put garbage and dead bodies at the dump (sounds like they have their own mafia!)
* There are ants that work at the dump, they’re usually the older ants… maybe it’s their way of respecting their elders?
* Ants are psycho! According to Buzzle.com, there is an ant called the “Slave-maker” (Polyergus Rufescens). This ant steals ants from other colonies that are not hatched yet. When these stolen ants hatch, they must work as slaves at the colony they were brought to. I guess the ants haven’t heard of civil rights yet.
Tags: abalone, ants, broadcast spawning, dirty jobs, seafood, seafood recipes, shellfish, slave-maker ant
