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- Date: Mon, 25 Jan 1993 12:40:03 +1100
- Sender: English Language Discussion Group <WORDS-L@uga.cc.uga.edu>
- From: LNCJB@WOMBAT.NEWCASTLE.EDU.AU
- Subject: Re: WORDS-L TP: Nancy's Science/Nature Question
- Comments: To: WORDS-L@uga.cc.uga.edu
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-
- > This reminds me of a gratuitous piece of information I picked up in Darwin.
- >There is this sea creature known as...the stone fish? Something having to
- >do with stones, anyway, because it looks deceptively like a stone. Only, when
- >you step on it, it hurts. In fact to such an extent that the first thing
- >to do, according to the horrifying plaque, when somebody has stepped on
- >one of these things is to prevent that person from taking his or her life
- >(by drowning or otherwise), because that is what people tend to do in order
- >to escape the pain. I quickly resolved not to dip as much as a toe into
- >the waters of Northern Australia.
-
- Torkel, there are all sorts of 'nasties' in the oceans from Northern Queensland
- along the coast to Broome in Western Australia. Stepping on a stonefish can
- indeed kill you but you'll die from that before you drown. There's also the
- sea-snakes; blue-ringed octopus; and sea wasps to look out for and even if
- you don't go into the water which most people don't in those parts, there's
- always the danger of getting taken by a crocodile. Is it any wonder that that
- part of the continent is the most sparsely populated?
-
- Carolyn
-