Originally published at: Japanese aquarium cheaps out on fish, penguins and otters notice | Boing Boing
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I can’t say that I’m upset to hear that the deviant-lifestyle-birbs and aqueous bliss weasels are getting the good stuff if they hold out; but I’m struck(perhaps excessively, due to personal issues regarding the hell of nonstandardized procurement that I really shouldn’t be projecting onto specialist veterinary staff) by the fact that the savings were big enough to drive them to attempt to switch over; but apparently not dramatic enough to prevent them from reverting to a situation where they now have to track two distinct fish inventories, and potentially even which animals will or won’t eat from which one; which seems like a serious regression.
Are they big cuddly softies; or is this the sort of situation where a penguin might go full Bartleby, the Shiverer; and just “I prefer not to” the inferior fish right up to the point of serious health concerns and/or death; rather than pouting a little in the immediate term but then eating when actually hungry?
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+1 on “aqueous bliss weasels”
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Otters are like dogs that way; they just appear to be enjoying being what they are so much that you can’t help but feel at least a dash of osmotic joy in their presence. Especially in absence of other joy sources I can’t help but love their antics.
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I would have also accepted “seapuppies”.
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Dog thinks, “Dog! Dog! Dog! Dog! Dog! Dog! Dog! Dog! Dog! Dog! Dog! Dog!”
Otter thinks, "Otter! Otter! Otter! Otter! Otter! Otter! Otter! Otter! Otter! Otter! Otter! "
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“Seapuppies” is tricky because it’s ambiguous: marine otters have a legitimate title claim; but seals are also rightful claimants to the title.
On the plus side; quibbling over nomenclature matters little if you can get a dog, an otter; and a seal to hold a conference and, as colleagues, be viscerally panglossian in a way that exists outside of, and both above and below, mere language.
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Silly animals. Saba sushi is delicious.
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Just make sure no one invites the sea lion 
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Did someone mention…sealions?
Don’t, just do not…
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I know a two-year-old human who does exactly that with food she does not want to eat.
I’d bet ten dollars on “Being seen to do something” being a major motivator.
Though also, some animal metabolisms just don’t handle fasting well. My veterinarian informs me that there is a right way and a wrong way to change your cat’s food, because “Put the new food out, they’ll eat when they’re hungry enough” runs into a problem that if a cat goes more than about a day without eating, it puts them at risk for severe liver damage and death.
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Jethro Tull did a couple (two exactly, almost identical!) songs about sea lions that are always appropriate:
Interesting; I’ll certainly take your vet’s word for it over my professed ignorance; but I’m surprised that an organism whose next meal depends on a successful hunt would remain so close to the knife’s edge in terms of fast-resistance. Carrying fat isn’t free; but liver damage and death neither attract the chicks nor keep your offspring alive, so it has its virtues.
I wonder if it’s perhaps an artifact of domestication and wild cats do better; or if I’m just overestimating how difficult hunting is because humans are not desperately high on the list of optimized hunters.
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thank you. came to say the same!
down here we catch spanish mackeral and cero mackeral. both are good smoked or cooked, but not so much sushi.
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This is a good question!
I don’t know about its provenance in wild cats.
Domestication is at least a risk factor, since having more fat on the cat in the first place can mean that when it goes into breaking-down-fat-overdrive-mode it can more easily overwhelm the liver.
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