Saturday, December 21, 2013

Butcher's shop in Samothraki - big fish trophy photos






Samothraki, Summer 2013

Have you ever noticed that many fish-shops show off "old photos" of prized trophies? A consturctive idea might be to try to collect photos such as these: of course most are gruesome or nearly disgusting. They show the noblest of the seas creatures dead and gutted. Yet this is testimony that the megafauna of the seas still somehow survives. And although these are not large-sized individuals for the particular species in question, they seem to have survived the catastrophic slaughter. Lets keep reminding ourselves that the living ones - in the seas- need our help.

These are shots of photos I took in one such fish mongers shop in Samothraki Harbour. Most of the photos are not that old. They show Blue Shark, Blue-Fin Tuna, Bull Ray, and Thresher Shark specimens all caught around Samothraki. 




 I guess a little Shakespeare, something I recall from highschool, does ring true here.....
O, pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth,
That I am meek and gentle with these butchers!
Thou art the ruins of the noblest man
That ever lived in the tide of times.
Woe to the hand that shed this costly blood!

Antony from Julius Caesar; Shakespeare, act 3 scene 1.