More years ago than I care to admit, I sat in what 91大神猫先生千人斩 now calls 鈥淗istoric Swisher Gymnasium鈥� and listened to Harry Chapin sing to what he then referred to as the 鈥渃heap seats.鈥�
That was back in the day when musicians practiced their craft performing at colleges and universities, trying to build an audience who would buy their records.
Records were these vinyl discs that came in various sizes depending on the speed that you played them, required a special turn table 鈥渞ecord player鈥� that rotated the disc at a specific speed. Some folks might remember them as 鈥�78鈥� 鈥�45鈥� or 鈥�33 and a third鈥� rpm鈥檚 or rotations per minute. The largest were also known as 鈥淟P鈥檚鈥� or Long Play, and I still have quite a collection.
A few years ago, my son saw me playing some LP鈥檚 and ask me 鈥淲hat kind of floppy disc is that?鈥� Even that question is dated by today鈥檚 standard where 8-track, cassettes and Walk-Man are antiquated terms, but I digress.
What triggered this sprint down memory lane was when a reader asked me to explain the migration of shrimp and finger mullet up and down the St. Johns River. When they asked the question, they were watching schools of bait moving south.
The answer caused me to think about Harry Chapin鈥檚 song 鈥淎ll My Life鈥檚 a Circle鈥�. The mind is a mysterious device.
You can sing along with me 鈥淎ll my life's a circle; Sunrise and sundown; Moon rolls thru the nighttime; Till the daybreak comes around.鈥� Second verse- 鈥楢ll my life's a circle; But I can't tell you why; Season's spinning round again; The years keep rollin' by.鈥�
It is really true that life is but a circle. I frequently wish people congratulations on their birthday for another successful trip around the sun. And what drives most animals, fish included, is the search for food and desire to reproduce. And what causes them to move in a somewhat regular pattern is the rhythm of those circles.
And it is all a bunch of circles, albeit often elliptical ones, as the earth spins in relation to the sun, while the moon rotates around the earth, with the earth and moon making a loop relative to the sun. Sometimes the moon is closer to the earth than at other times. And the same is true of the earth and moon in relation to the sun. And as Harry sang 鈥淪eason's spinning round again; The years keep rollin' by.鈥�
So, we end up with the tides driven by the rotation of the moon relative to the earth and the yearly seasons by the relationship of the earth to the sun. That, in turn, gives us a cycle of life when there is, as the Bible says in Ecclesiastes, 鈥渇or everything there is a season, 鈥 time to be born, and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to harvest.鈥�
Such is the cycle of life that drives fish to swim into the river to spawn, or out
of the river to do the same thing. Animals have evolved to take advantage of the season
to their benefit. They also move in search of food, which, in turn, is a cycle based
on the season and amount of sunlight. Animals can sense the shortening of days and
know how to move to warmer waters, or lengthening days which means there will be food
and it is time to reproduce.
Harry Chapin singing 鈥淎ll my life鈥檚 a circle鈥� keeps ringing in my head. And it is
so true.
Glad you asked River Life
Why do some animals migrate upstream into the river, while others move out of the river offshore?
As mentioned in this month鈥檚 column, animals move in response to varying conditions. What they do depends on competition and where they can have their best chance to survive. Their ability to find food and ultimately reproduce is the key. So, animals have evolved so that everyone doesn鈥檛 do the same thing. Like people, some like it hot, while some like it cold.
