Group+5+Ecopuppet

//Garbage-Goby (Fish) //: I am not sure how long this will last – but we found ourselves a pretty nice pad!

I can`t believe our luck – this place was fully furnished too: toxic pollutants, algal bloom and few neighbours to deal with – except for the phytoplankton and zebra mussels. I mean you see a few lake trout now and then, but let`s just say we encouraged them to take a hike!

We are not a picky like the snooty trout when it comes to food – any plankton or smaller fish will do – especially the polluted kind –full of PCBs, our digestive systems are made for this stuff!

We are tough when it comes to living on the harsh shores of the Toronto waterfront – if it is not runoff, sewage or acid rain – we are running directly into garbage! It is a good thing we have a solid bony exterior.

Uh oh! Here comes trouble, better go hide behind that clump of <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">zebra mussels over there!

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Toothy tern (bird): <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">If I have to eat one more gros Garbage Goby!?!? I know we <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">developed teeth for this, but boy do I miss the good old days, <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">where gums were all we had, but we could swallow those <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">mouth-watering trout whole! Now we have to gnash through <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">bone!

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Most of my toothless friends are gone – to look for ``cleaner`` <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">pastures, but I guess I am developing a taste for you – gros <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Goby!

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">It helps that I have a serious internal scrubber system, so I am <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">not accumulating all the baggage these fish bring with them <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">(bioaccumulation of industrial waste, <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none;">[|chemicals] <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">, <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none;">[|agricultural] <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none;">[|fertilizers] <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">, untreated <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none;">[|sewage] <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">, <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none;">[|phosphates] <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">, <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none;">[|DDT] <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">, <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none;">[|benzo[//a//pyrene]] <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">and other pesticides; <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none;">[|PCBs] <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">, <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none;">[|aramite] <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">, <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none;">[|chromium] <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">, <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none;">[|lead] <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">, <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none;">[|mirex] <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">, <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none;">[|mercury] <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">, and <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none;">[|carbon tetrachloride] <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">) – real tasty!

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">But you know – I am not sure those dumb Gobies have noticed – <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">I spotted one of those stuck up Walleye fish the other day, you <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">know, the kind that only like to be in clean water, as if! Anyway, <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">to me that is a sure sign of a serious clean-up! I think the <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Garbage Gobies’ time here is limited.

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">All the new fancy pants humans moving into the surrounding <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Lakefront neighbourhoods are always talking about the clean-up <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">efforts.

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">The water is getting clearer, and there is less and less for those <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">stinky, bony Gobies to eat. They will find themselves having to <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">go and find food elsewhere, guess that means I will too!

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Or I could become a vegetarian. Or better still -wait it out, <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Gobies are a little less stinky these days! I think this lake is <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">making a come-back and it won’t be long before I am making <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">little use of my teeth, tasting numerous lovely lake trout again. . . <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">in the meantime I will have to wait for that Goby to move away <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">from his hiding spot – a bird has got to eat!

//source:// //binational.net/lakeontario_e.html//