Turbot or not Turbot? That Fish the Question! Quiz

Answer: The Terrible Dogfish

After being swallowed by the "Attila of Fish and Fishermen", Pinocchio holds a conversation with a very intelligent tunny. This little fish offers pearls of wisdom such as "when one is born a tunny it is more dignified to die in the water than in oil", and tells us that the Dogfish is "two miles long without counting its tail".

In the Disney film version of the book, "The Terrible Dogfish" was turned into a whale called "Monstro". Should you wish to encounter this fearsome creature face to face, you may wish to pay a visit to "Pinocchio Park" in Tuscany, Italy.

Question trawled from the depths of memory by ArthurR.

Answer: Marlin

Having not caught anything for 84 days, poor old Santiago was desperate for a change in fortune. In a fantastic battle of attrition, it really was a case of whether the old man or the marlin would succumb to complete exhaustion first.

"The Old Man and the Sea" is classified as a novella and was the last work published during Hemingway's lifetime. He committed suicide in 1961 by shooting himself with a shotgun.

Question landed (after a two day battle) by DaisiJ.

Answer: Lavinia Derwent

Lavinia Derwent was the pen-name of Elizabeth Dodd MBE (1909 - 1989).
The Tammy Troot stories were read by W H D Joss on "Children's Storytime."

This question was reeled in by Wendy (wsm22).

Answer: Journey to the West

Wu Cheng-en's "Journey to the West" is the story of Sun Wukong, the heaven born Monkey
King. He starts off by searching for wisdom and immortality, and then
becomes a bit of a spoilt brat. The novel features magic, demons, battles
and the song "The Fragrance of the Mantingfang". Think that's weird, wait
until you start reading it!

When I say that the above fish are minor characters, they appear in around
one paragraph in a 100 chapter behemoth. Fish also appear sporadically
throughout the entire work. Searching for 'mackerel', brought up half a
dozen entries at varying parts of the story. Searching for 'perch' came up
with even more, but these were not of the fishy variety! Alas, 'pilchard'
came up with a big fat zero.

Question set by ajwtimperley.

Answer: The Stream That Stood Still

"The Stream That Stood Still" is the second book of the "Magic Woodland" trilogy by Nichols, and was first published in 1948.

Question set by Rowena8482.

Answer: One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish

Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, wrote this rhyming classic 50 years ago and it is still a favourite amongst children today.

There is a ride going by this name at "Islands of Adventure" in Orlando, Florida. It's a kind of musical merry-go-round where you sit in carriages of different colour fish.

Question set by azteceinstein.

Answer: Vishnu

In a familiar theme running through various mythologies, the story of Matsya is heavily linked with the story of a flood. Our little fishy had its life saved by a devotee of Vishnu called Manu, and rewarded this act of generosity by forewarning Manu of the terrible flood to come. As a result, Manu ended up becoming the Hindu equivalent of Noah, as he saved the world from impending doom.

There were nine further Avatars of Vishnu, of which the tenth is expected to appear at the end of the Kali Yuga; our current time period.

Question set by ajwtimperley.

Answer: A giant catfish

Namazu is a giant catfish in Japanese mythology who causes earthquakes. He lives in the mud beneath the earth and is guarded by the God Kashima. When Kashima lets his guard down, Namazu threshes around causing violent earthquakes.

Following the distribution of the woodblock prints around Edo (modern day Tokyo), the Japanese government outlawed production and started to round-up the woodblocks and burn them.

Question set by ArthurR.

Answer: Jaws

The most famous of all sharks was originally the star of this 1974 novel, that follows the story of a great white shark and the three men who go out to kill it. The book was inspired by actual incidents, and has probably led to the extremely unfair negative image that the carnivorous fish receives today. The number of people killed or injured in shark attacks is very small, though those that come into contact with them need to respect them for the powerful animals that they are.

Question set by ajwtimperley.

Answer: Babel Fish

Google "Babel Fish" and you'll find the translator hosted by Yahoo!, which is exactly where I go whenever I wish to mistranslate something in a foreign language.

In one of the myriad contradictions prevalent in the "Hitchhiker's Guide", the Babel Fish both proves and disproves the existence of God, as the below excerpt from the book illustrates:

"Now it is such a bizarrely improbable coincidence that anything so mindbogglingly useful could evolve purely by chance that some thinkers have chosen to see it as a final and clinching proof of the non-existence of God. The argument goes something like this: "I refuse to prove that I exist," says God, "for proof denies faith, and without faith I am nothing". "But," says man, "the Babel fish is a dead giveaway, isn't it? It proves you exist and so therefore you don't. QED." "Oh dear," says God, "I hadn't thought of that," and promptly vanishes in a puff of logic. "Oh, that was easy," says man, and for an encore goes on to prove that black is white, and gets killed on the next zebra crossing. Most leading theologians claim that this argument is a load of dingo's kidneys. But this did not stop Oolon Colluphid making a small fortune when he used it as the central theme for his best selling book, 'Well That About Wraps It Up for God'. Meanwhile the poor Babel fish, by effectively removing all barriers to communication between different cultures and races, has caused more and bloodier wars than anything else in the history of creation."

Question set by ajwtimperley.