Longfin Batfish

Longfin Batfish

Guardian: Liz Isles

Platax tiera

“I think the reason I like boats so much is because they remind me of my childhood, they feel safe. I grew up under a raft of seaweed, I thought I was odd at first because I had massive fins and I was terrified that some sleek looking predator was going to eat me because I couldn’t swim fast for long but then I found this seaweed raft. Not only did I feel so much safer, I met other fish like me and we were like best buds, there were five of us and we stayed side by side the whole time, we ate these hard round creatures that walked with these really thin fins and then this absolutely enormous one came along that had its head on a thick tail, swam sideways using its fins like 4 paddles and weirdest of all, kept sticking its head up to drink the air. I loved those days, I wished they could have gone on forever, but then Burt mysteriously disappeared (I swear the sargassum weed ate him), the raft got smaller and one day, after a bit of a storm, we separated. I stuck with Joe and we found this boat. The only problem is that it leaves every day, it would be so good if it just sat at the bottom attracting more of those round fin-walking creatures to it”.