Monday, August 1, 2016

My Story

The visit to the Samudrika Naval Marine Museum was an afterthought and I am glad we made it (just a few hours before our flight took off from Port Blair)
As you enter the museum, you get to see this skeleton of the Blue Whale which was recovered from Kamorta Island.


It possibly beached due to the bio magnetic navigational syndrome which occurs at places where the geomagnetic contours cross the coast at right angle.
It is said that this mighty mammal can grow so large that eight elephants can easily stand in a row on its back. The Blue Whale can stay under water for about 20 minutes between inhalations. The signature water spout of the whale is the exhaled air by the animal and can reach as high as nine meters. (reminded me of the story of Ahab and Moby Dick)

These trees with the Noni fruit was a part of the exhibit. The plant originated in the islands around Pacific ocean. 


Thousands of years ago, sea going people journeyed in outrigger canoes. Space in the canoes was precious, so they brought only what they required to survive. Noni was a prized cargo in these canoes because of its healthful properties.
PS: See the comment below by Mantis Hugo regarding this fruit. Also read his blog regarding the benefits of the fruit
The aquarium gives an insight into the marine life underwater. This stone fish sits still with no movement at all. The only sign of life is the slight movement of the gill which can be seen in the video.




The exhibits of corals and shells could be a delight for marine biologists. I liked the shape of this Mango shell. The outer periphery also looks like the path of an involute.



What really caught my eye was a write up along with these three turtle shells. The title was “My Story” It goes like this: I am the centre turtle on display and flanking me on either side is my family. We traveled extensively all around the Indian Ocean from east coast of African continent, including the seas surrounding Madagascar to all along the coast of Asia, the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea, along the entire coast of the Indian subcontinent, across the entire Indonesian Archipelago and the North-Western coast of Australia.
Our lifestyle was relaxed and we found abundant food in the coral reefs of the Indian Ocean. However because of human fishing practices, we were always under threat and had to be very careful of illegal poachers. We were aware that certain waters were dangerous, especially in China and Japan, people valued our flesh as delicacy and in other places we were hunted for our shells.
We were on our way from Philippines to our nesting site in these islands when we fell prey to one such greedy poacher.
At the time of my death I was about 85 kg and my wife was about 50 kg and our lovely child was just stepping into adulthood and was about 30 kg.



(The above turtles were recovered from a foreign fishing trawler engaged in illegal poaching by a Naval ship of the Andaman and Nicobar Command)


26 comments:

Rabbit said...

Thank you for sharing the pictures along with your insights.

Anonymous said...

Beautiful.

reminds me we had 2 turtles in mumbai couple of months back...
towards mom end time we asked her to free them and left them in IIT powai lake.
they had been with her for last 6 years.

Thanks for fond memories. - Rachna

magiceye said...

Fascinating. Missed it during our visit to Andamans :(

Lowell said...

This is a very interesting. That blue whale blew me away. It's huuuuuge!

Anvilcloud said...

This looks like a fascinating place. The whale size is so impressive.

Augustine Xavier said...

Lovely Marine Video, thanks for sharing, feel like making the next trip to the Andamans......

Barbara said...

Hello
Thanks for coming to visit my blog. I’m glad you did because I found this post really interesting, and I know I’m going to enjoy your blog. I’ve just made myself a cup of tea, and I’m going to spend a happy hour or so browsing through some of your earlier post. Barbara

Liz A. said...

That's one big skeleton...
(For some strange reason, your blog doesn't update on Feedly. The last post they have from you is from May 1, 2015.)

Bijoux said...

I like the turtle's story. A great way to teach kids (and adults!)

DUTA said...

Your video brings the place alive to us. The naval museum is certainly worth a visit. I've greatly enjoyed the pictures and description of the blue whale skeleton, the noni fruit, the stone fish, the mango shell, the turtles...

Sandee said...

What a lovely place to visit. Sorry about those turtles though. What a sad ending.

Have a fabulous day. ☺

Phil Slade said...

So sad about the turtles. I witnessd this still happening in Lanzarote, Spain last year. Such wonderful creatures. The museum looks a really great place to visit.

tina said...

I always enjoy reading your blog posts so much because I always learn something new. The story of the turtles is poignant. It's a hard life for them and all creatures that are hunted. That blue whale skeleton is amazing. Not at all what I'd expect from a whale skeleton.

TexWisGirl said...

awww...poignant way to tell of turtle slaughter.

Julia K said...

Very interesting post. I did not know that the whale is so huge!

Our photos said...

Very nice ! I like the part of the stone fish !

Theresa Mahoney said...

I always love museums like this. That what skeleton is quite fascinating!

Kim@stuffcould.... said...

This museum looks so interesting, blue whale is neat

George said...

This looks like it was a fascinating place to visit -- I'm glad you could share it with us. I really enjoyed the story of the turtle family. It's too bad there is so much illegal poaching going on.

Angie's Recipes said...

I have never heard of or seen noni fruit before..I would love to visit this interesting place too.

Amelia said...

Hi Haddock, excellent posting. Thanks for sharing the interesting turtle family story.

Have a nice weekend, regards.
Amelia

DeniseinVA said...

Dear Haddock, a very interesting post and like many of your visitors, also found the story of the turtle family very poignant. It's good to bring such stories to light, and hopefully these stories will help end poaching. I live in hope! Thank you for your very kind words on my blog and I am so sorry you lost your father-in-law and mother-in-law in such a short time of each other. Very similar to my own parents. Your words were a comfort and my husband and I appreciated them very much.

Lowcarb team member said...

Thank you for giving the video link ...
The story of the turtle family was indeed very poignant, "human fishing practices" still leave a lot of room for improvement.

All the best Jan

Stewart M said...

Sea life is remarkable life - always fascinated by whales.

Cheers - Stewart M - Melbourne

Anonymous said...

Enjoy reading your blogs. They are very insightful. Looking forward to the next one. Thanks for sharing. - Joellan Fernandes

Unknown said...

Nice to learn you have reviewed Noni fruit. I have been in health care industry for about a decade and dealing with Pure Noni Juice since then. Believe me, it is one of the most powerful fruits in the world as it contains huge amount of vitamins and antioxidants which cannot be found in any other fruits.