All is not whale

KARACHI: Over the relatively short period of its publication, one has come to expect the highest level of editorial quality from your newspaper. However, I read the piece “All is Whale: Moby Dick comes to town ahead of Karachi Literature Festival” on February 8, and would like to make some comments on its content: First of all, the animal that was brought to Karachi was not a whale but a whale shark. Whales are mammals while whale sharks are fish.

The article further said that whales use “eco-sounds” to find their way in water. The phenomenon is called ‘echolocation’ and is used only by certain mammals and a few birds — and not by fish. Since the animal in question was a fish, it clearly did not use or was able to use ‘echolocation’. By the way, bats (not the cricketing ones) use echolocation too. Might I add that bats are mammals and not birds, although some birds do use the technique.

The article further translates ‘billi magnra’ as catfish and ‘andhi mangra’ as blind dolphin. ‘Mangra’ is the generic term used by local fishermen for varieties of sharks. While catfish and sharks belong to very different groups of fish, they do have certain similarities, such as absence of scales and a streamlined body. Due to this, some fishermen classify catfish as a variety of ‘mangra’ as well. However, the local name in proper use is ‘singhara’ or ‘khagga’.

In the same article, I also read that “red tide” is a “single cell toxic plant”. Red tides are not single-cell toxic plants but a phenomenon caused by large concentrations of aquatic microorganisms. I am yet to encounter these in the Arabian Sea during my limited excursions through it.

I recommend that articles bursting at the seams with scientific statements should be vetted by experts before publication.

Muhammad Adil Mulki

Published in The Express Tribune, February 9^th, 2012.