Whitsunday Islands

The Whitsundays 74 Island Wonders, located in the heart of the Great Barrier Reef, on the tropical coast of Queensland, Australia.
with the area being one of the most popular yachting destinations in the Southern Hemisphere.
Explore from the bow of a sailboat… cruise through the islands and drop anchor for a quick snorkel and wake up to a sunrise over world famous Whitehaven Beach. Or enjoy the spoils of a mainland resort with Coral Sea views at Airlie Beach, yet another 74 island wonder.

The Whitsunday Islands are a collection of continental islands of various sizes off the central coast of Queensland, Australia, situated between just south of Bowen and to the north of Mackay, some 900 kilometres (560 mi) north of Brisbane.
The island group is centred on Whitsunday Island, while the group's commercial centre is Hamilton Island.

The traditional owners of the area are the Ngaro People and the Gia People (Birri Gubba Language Group), the Juru Clan of which has the only recognised Native Title in the Region

Racial Discrimination in Australia

 

The Racial Discrimination Act 1975 (RDA) is a statute passed by the Australian Parliament during the Prime Ministership of Labor Gough Whitlam.



The RDA makes racial discrimination unlawful in Australia.

All across Australia, there are people and organisations doing great things to reduce and prevent racism. Many schools, students and teachers have already demonstrated their commitment to countering racism through their involvement in developing and implementing anti-racism education initiatives.

The Racism. It Stops with Me campaign isn’t about reinventing the wheel: they want to learn from past achievements and challenges. Their consultations have told them that it’s often the people working on the ground within local communities or specific environments who have the best understanding of the issues and ideas of how to overcome them. They believe that the most effective way to make a difference in the incidence of racism is to encourage and coordinate these efforts.
Over the next three years, we will:

• Ask organisations to commit to the campaign and develop their own anti-racism activities
• Ask individuals to become part of a community of people who are committed to leading by example
• Offer advice and assistance to supporters in implementing their anti-racism activities
• Provide a central coordination point for activities happening across Australia
• Develop materials to assist in the promotion of anti-racism messages
• Develop education tools for a range of audiences
• Share good practice examples for others to learn from and build on
• Facilitate linkages and partnerships between our supporter organisations.

By doing this, we hope to create a culture where people are able to identify racism and have the confidence and tools to act appropriately when it does occur. 

New Anti-Hate Spray puts the power of hate removal in your hands. Specifically formulated to combat racism, homophobia and any other discrimination, Anti-Hate Spray will leave your community clean and hate free.

Australia today is a multiethnic society and the product of more than two centuries of immigration. Laws forbid racial and other forms of discrimination and protect freedom of religion.

Although the majority of the population are Australian born, more than 75% of Australians identified with an ancestry other than Australian in the 2011 Census. About 2% of Australians come from Indigenous backgrounds and about 43% have at least one parent who has born overseas. 30% of the population were born in another country. Of the overseas born, the major countries of birth are England, New Zealand and China. About 8.5% of Australians were born in non-English speaking countries. In all, Australians come from over 200 birthplaces.

What is vilification on the basis of race or religion?

Vilification is different from discrimination. While discrimination involves unfair treatment, vilification is a public act that incites others to hate you or your group (or have serious contempt for, or severely ridicule you) because of your race or religion.
This sort of hatred can show up in a number of ways including hate speeches, leaflets, graffiti, websites, public abuse or media remarks.

Example

• Posters and graffiti inciting hatred of Jewish people are put up outside a synagogue.
• A spectator at a football match urges supporters to abuse a Muslim woman and to take off her hijab (veil).

 

 

Finding Nemo

Clown fish are found on the offshore islands of north-western Western Australia and from the northern Great Barrier Reef, Queensland.

Clownfish are typically very bright, orange fish that have three white stripes, one at the head, middle and tail. If you look really closely, you may notice that there are thin black lines around the white stripes. Also, the tips of their fins have a thin black rounded stripe.

Clownfish can grow to be from 2 to 5 inches long. The males tend to be significantly smaller than the females. However, there are various types of clownfish that range in colours from blue to yellow.

Clownfish live in a "symbiotic" relationship with certain anemones. This means they benefit from living with the sea anemone, and the sea anemone benefits from the presence of the clownfish. They are the only fish that are able to live in sea anemones and not get stung by their tentacles. Clownfish are very active fish and are extremely aggressive. Because they are quite active, the clownfish are thought to be "clowning around". They defend their territory and the sea anemone that they live in. Clownfish eat the leftovers from fish on the anemone and algae. The leftovers include copepods, isopods and zooplankton.

Clownfish have a few ocean predators, but their greatest threat is humans. People who catch clownfish and keep them as pets in aquariums are making a mistake. There are only ten out of more than one thousand types of anemone that are able to host these fish. Many people put the fish in a tank with the wrong anemone. In captivity, the clownfish can live from 3 to 5 years. In the wild, they live 6 to 10 years.

Australian Megafauna

The term "megafauna" is usually applied to large animals (over 100 kg). In Australia, however, megafauna were never as large as those found on other continents, and so a more lenient criterion of over 40 kg is often applied^.

Australian megafauna are a number of large animal species in Australia, often defined as species with body mass estimates of greater than 30 kilograms, or equal to or greater than 30% greater body mass than their closest living relatives. Many of these species became extinct, it is thought by many scientists, that with the arrival of humans (around 48,000-60,000 years ago), hunting and the use of fire to manage their environment may have contributed to the extinction of the megafauna. Increased aridity during peak glaciation (about 18,000 years ago) may have also contributed to the extinction of the megafauna.

Australia has a few remaining native megafauna, such as the Red Kangaroo, Emu and Estuarine Crocodile, whilst the oceans that surround our continent are home to the largest living marine megafauna, like the Blue Whale, Giant Squid, Whale Shark and Leather-back turtle. However, Australia didn’t always have so few native megafauna, instead our island continent was once home to the largest ever monotremes (egg-laying mammals), marsupials (pouched mammals), lizards and birds. Evidence of these extinct megafauna can be found across Australia as fossilised remains found in deep dark caves, eroding from river and creek banks, in ancient swampy peat bogs and dried-up salt lakes, and even eroding from old beach dunes.

Australian Lions
Thylacoleo ("pouch lion") is an extinct carnivorous marsupial that lived in Australia 2 million to 46 thousand years ago. Some of these "marsupial lions" were the largest mammalian predators in Australia of that time, with Thylacoleo carnifex approaching the weight of a small lion.

Giant kangaroos
Procoptodon (Giant Short-faced Kangaroo) was the largest kangaroo to ever live, standing 8 feet tall and possessing a truly bizarre body-shape. Unlike modern day kangaroos Procoptodon had an extremely short face, almost human-like, enormously long and strong forearms, robust and muscular legs and a short thick tail. Procoptodon was not built for excessive hopping, in fact, it would have used its long arms, strong legs and thick tail to balance itself whilst it pulled down large branches from trees, stripping them of their new leaves to feed such a bulky body. Fossils of this giant have been found in the Winton district, preserved as fragmentary teeth and a possible pelvis.

Marsupials

Marsupials are characterised, by the presence of a pouch in which they rear their young.

Australia has the world's largest, and most diverse range of marsupials.

Numbat's long tongue used for catching termites

The carnivorous marsupials order Dasyuromorphia, are represented by two surviving families, the Dasyuridae with 51 members, and the Myrmecobiidae with the numbat as its sole surviving member.

Tamanian Tigers in captivity 1930's

The Tasmanian Tiger was the largest Dasyuromorphia and the last living specimen of the family Thylacinidae however, what appears to have been the last known specimen died in captivity in 1936.

Tasmanian Devil

The world's largest surviving carnivorous marsupial is the Tasmanian Devil, it is the size of a small dog and can hunt, although it is mainly a scavenger. It became extinct on the mainland some 600 years ago, and is now found only in Tasmania.

Quoll (native cat)

There are four species of quoll, or native cat, all of which are threatened species.

Marsupial Mole

There are two species of Marsupial Mole Notoryctemorphia that inhabit the deserts of Western Australia, these rare blind and earless carnivorous creatures, spend most of their time underground,little is known about them.

Bilby                                              Sugar Glider                                   Bandicoot

The Sugar Glider,the bandicoots and bilbies Peramelemorphia,are marsupial omnivores. There are seven species in Australia, most of which are endangered. These small creatures share several characteristic physical features: a plump, arch-backed body with a long, delicately tapering snout, large upright ears, long, thin legs, and a thin tail. The evolutionary origin of this group is unclear, because they share characteristics from both carnivorous and herbivorous marsupials.

The Koala does not normally need to drink, because it can obtain all of the moisture it needs by eating leaves.Herbivorous marsupials are classified in the order Diprotodontia, and further into the suborders Vombatiformes and Phalangerida. The Vombatiformes include the Koala and the three species of wombat. One of Australia's best-known marsupials, the Koala is an arboreal species that feeds on the leaves of various species of eucalyptus.

Baby Wombat

Wombats, on the other hand, live on the ground and feed on grasses, sedges and roots. Wombats use their rodent-like front teeth and powerful claws to dig extensive burrow systems; they are mainly crepuscular and nocturnal.

Little Pygmy Possum

 The Phalangerida includes six families and 26 species of possum and three families with 51 species of macropod. The possums are a diverse group of arboreal marsupials and vary in size from the Little Pygmy Possum, weighing just 7g, to the cat-sized Common Ringtail and Brushtail possums. The Sugar and Squirrel Gliders are common species of gliding possum, found in the eucalypt forests of eastern Australia, while the Feathertail Glider is the smallest glider species. The gliding possums have membranes called 'patagiums' that extend from the fifth finger of their forelimb back to the first toe of their hind foot. These membranes, when outstretched, allow them to glide between trees.

Kangaroo flexing his muscles

Finally the macropods are divided into three families, the Hypsiprymnodontidae, with the Musky Rat-kangaroo as its only member, the Potoroidae, with 11 species; and the Macropodidae, with 45 species. Macropods are found in all Australian environments except alpine areas.

Tasmanian Betongs

The Potoroidae include the bettongs, potaroos and rat-kangaroos, small species that make nests and carry plant material with their tails.

Mountain Wallabies

The Macropodiae include kangaroos, wallabies and associated species; size varies widely within this family. Most macropods have large hind legs and long, narrow hind feet, with a distinctive arrangement of four toes, and powerfully muscled tails, which they use to hop around. The Musky Rat-kangaroo is the smallest macropod and the only species that is quadrupedal not bipedal, while the male Red Kangaroo is the largest, reaching a height of about 2 m and weighing up to 85 kg.

Kingston Town



1976 - 1991

Arguably the greatest racehorse Australia has ever seen, Kingston Town was a true champion. Kingston Town was the winner of almost every group race in Australia, including 3 consecutive Moonee Valley Cox Plate's in a row.

Unlike some of today and yesterdays champions, Kingston Town was an incredibly versatile horse he had the ability to win sprint races and staying races and everything in between.


He was trained throughout his career by Tommy Smith and ridden in 25 of his 30 wins by Malcolm Johnston. Kingston Town made his debut as a two-year-old in March 1979, and, in his only start as a colt, famously ran a distant last, but returned as a gelding in the final weeks of the season to win the Round Table Handicap at 33/1.

In 1980 Kingston Town backed up after winning 4 weeks in a row in the Sydney Cup. Drawn the extreme outside in a 17 horse field there were doubts he could find a position let alone stay the 2 miles but there was never a problem. Kingston Town flew the start and crossed the entire field to led early but settled in 5th on off the rail. By the 1200m Better Vibes led Kingston Town then Warri Symbol and Double Century. On straightening Kingston Town took the lead and powered away from Double Century then Marlborough and Favaloso. Under hand and heels Kingston Town won by 3 ¼ lengths from Double Century with Marlborough third.

Kingston Town's win in the 1982 Cox Plate was marked by Bill Collins famously incorrect prognostication that 'Kingston Town can't win', which was hastily revised to '... he might win yet the champ ... Kingston Town's swamping them ... Kingston Town...'






Kingston Town


Sire Bletchingly


Grandsire Biscay


Dam Ada Hunter (GER)


Dam sire Andrea Mantegna (FR)

Sex Gelding

Foaled 1976

Country Australia

Colour Black

Breeder David H. Hains

Owner David Hains & Mr & Mrs. G Monsborough

Trainer T. J. Smith

Record 41: 30-5-2

Earnings AU$1,605,790


Group One's

Spring Champion Stakes (1979)

Rosehill Guineas (1980)

AJC Derby (1980)

H E Tancred Stakes (1980)

Sydney Cup (1980)

Queensland Derby (1980)

Cox Plate (1980, 1981 & 1982)

George Main Stakes (1981 & 1982)

Caulfield Stakes (1981 & 1982)

Western Mail Classic (1982)

After running his last race in Australia, in November 1982, Kingston Town was sent to America on 15 February 1984 in an attempt to overcome his leg problems, but he did not race in the United States. He was returned to Australia, and, in 1985, an attempt was made to resurrect his career, but he was scratched from his scheduled race and retired.


In March 1991, Kingston Town was put down after failing to recover from a leg injury that he suffered while playing with another horse, his favourite paddock-mate.

South Burnett Queensland

The South Burnett is located about 2 to 3 hours drive north-west of Brisbane and roughly 2 hours  from the Sunshine Coast.
The South Burnett Region covers an area 8,399 square kilometres (3,243 sq mi), containing an estimated resident population of over 30,000.

The region is probably best known for peanuts (Kingaroy is famous as the "Peanut Capital of Australia!"), the Bunya Mountains National Park and wineries.

Towns are a short distance apart in a small area, making it very easy to explore on a day trip or on a weekend.

Towns in the South Burnett

Kingaroy Benarkin Blackbutt Boondooma Brooklands Bunya Mountains Cherbourg Cloyna Coolabunia Durong Ficks Crossing Goodger Hivesville Inverlaw Kumbia

Maidenwell Memerambi Moffatdale Mondure Murgon Nanango Proston Taabinga Tingoora Wheatlands Windera Wondai Wooroolin Wooroonden

Australian Beer

The history of Australian beer starts very early in Australia's colonial history. Captain Cook brought beer with him on his ship Endeavour as a means of preserving drinking water. On 1 August 1768 as Captain Cook was fitting out the Endeavour for its voyage, Nathaniel Hulme wrote to Joseph Banks recommending that he take -

Joseph Banks old $5.00 note

"a quantity of Molasses and Turpentine, in order to brew Beer with, for your daily drink, when your Water becomes bad. … Brewing Beer at sea will be peculiarly useful in case you should have stinking water on board; for I find by Experience that the smell of stinking water will be entirely destroyed by the process of fermentation."

— Letter to Joseph Banks 1768

Beer was still being consumed on board 2 years later in 1770 when Cook was the first European to discover the east coast of Australia.

The first (official) brewer in Australia was John Boston who brewed a beverage from Indian corn bittered with cape gooseberry leaves. It is likely though that beer was brewed unofficially much earlier. The first pub, the Mason Arms was opened in 1796 in Parramatta by James Larra, a freed convict.

James Squire was the first to successfully cultivate hops in 1804. The Government Gazette from 1806 mentions that he was awarded a cow from the government herd for his efforts. Squire also opened a pub and brewed beer.

Brewing rapidly expanded in all the Australian colonies. By 1871 there were 126 breweries in Victoria alone which at the time had a population of only 800,000.



Melbourne, 24 July 1953. The liquor licensing laws of the day obliged public bars to close at 6 p.m. The ensuing rush to the bar to beat the clock for a drink before heading home for dinner became known as the "six o'clock swill".

It's a sad fact of life but beer will never taste quite as good as it does in a pub.

Helping to ensure  that you might literally never leave your house again, a Japanese company have created the Beer Jug Jokki Hour, a glass that gives you the ability to add a pub-style head of foam to your beer.

The trick is to fill your mug 3/4 full or more and then press the non-battery operated switch to create a fresh head of foam.

All you need now is a healthy supply of your favourite brew, a pool table and a foul-smelling bathroom and you're pretty much set.

South Africans Abroad

 

 

Australia is the third most popular country for South Africans living abroad.
According to the latest statistics, there were roughly 159,020 South African-born expatriates living in Australia, making it the third most popular country for South Africans who live abroad.
The year-on-year increment has doubled between 2006/07 and 2009/13, with a little under 13,000 new permanent additions granted Australian visas (majority via the skilled route, 89% to be precise) in 2009/13.
Interestingly enough, the median age of South African-born migrants is 38 years old, while the labour force participation rate was 76%, which is considerably higher than the national average of 65%.
Contrary to popular belief, New South Wales was the most popular state for South Africa born residents in Australia at the time of the last Census in 2006.

In the 2012-13 Australian Commonwealth Budget announced in May, the government had good news for South Africans hoping to migrate to the country.  The financial plan outlined a targeted increase in numbers accepted on the Migration Program to support Australian regions and sectors with acute skills shortages.

The standout feature of the Budget was an increase of 5,000 places in the Migration Program from 185,000 places in 2011‑12 to 190,000 for 2012-13 made up of 129,250 skilled stream places, 60,185 family stream places and 565 special eligibility places.  Minister for Immigration and Citizenship Chris Bowen MP said the increase “comes in the context of significant skills gaps in both the short and medium term in certain sectors of our patchwork economy” and that skilled migrants “are complementing rather than competing with our domestic labour force.”
International removals company, Anglo Pacific, has already noticed a surge in enquiries for Australian 2012, up 15% to date for the same period in 2011.  The Company attributed this rise to the Australian Government’s other latest initiative – Skill Select.  Combine this with the increase in allocations on the Migration Program and Anglo Pacific could be in for a very busy year shipping personal belongings down under.

Gday Australia

G’day is a shortened form of ‘Good Day’ and it is the equivalent of ‘Hello. Mate means friend or buddy and it can be used to address your friend or a total stranger by saying G'day mate! So, everyone can be your mate in Australia.

We should all say G'day more often, in general. Just the simple act of smiling or laughing can make you happier.

But even better: say G'day to a stranger. Too often we brush past strangers without a glance, or a straight or scowling face. At best, we might give people a tolerant little smile, to show that we are not mean. Usually most of us try to avoid any eye contact at all.
Try this instead: look strangers in the eye, and give them a big G'day. In most cases, you’ll get a hello or G'day in return. The more you smile, the more smiles you’ll see in return.
End result? A happier world. So simple!



 

Sheilas

Today, women make up just over half of Australia’s total population. More women than men are now educated at secondary schools and universities, and more women than men graduate from university with bachelor degrees. In 2006, women accounted for 54.8 per cent of all tertiary education students and 47.5 per cent of all students enrolled in vocational education and training courses. The majority were enrolled in management and commerce, society and culture, and food, hospitality and personal services courses.
Almost 4.8 million women were in some form of paid employment.

In the late 19th century, as Australia entered a period of prosperity, employment opportunities for women started to increase. However, around half of the female workforce was still employed in domestic service for very little pay. Women started campaigning for a range of social and political reforms, including access to universities and the right to vote and stand for parliament. By 1881, they had gained entry to all three universities then in existence (Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney). Between 1895 and 1908, all state governments granted women the vote and, from 1902, women had the right to stand for federal parliament and vote in federal elections.

By 1943, there were around 800 000 women in the workforce.

Australian Aboriginal women share an interdependent relationship with the men playing a dominant role in child rearing and food gathering and sharing the roles of healers, law makers, performers, painters and custodians of traditional ways. Women maintain their traditional knowledge through ceremony and more recently through their paintings.

Today, rather than being an insult, “Sheila” is widely regarded as a Aussie slang word for a woman.

An ‘alright sort of a sheila’ would therefore denote a pretty good woman!

Australia is very much a multicultural country, 25 per cent of Australians were born overseas; the five largest immigrant groups were those from the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Italy, Vietnam, and China.

Timeline


1895: Women vote for the first time in an Australian election (South Australia)


1902: Commonwealth Franchise Act passed, enabling all women (with the exception of Aboriginal women in some states) to stand for federal parliament and vote in federal elections.

1921: Edith Cowan above becomes the first woman elected to an Australian parliament (in Western Australia)

1943: Dame Enid Lyons and Senator Dorothy Tangney above become the first women elected to Federal Parliament

1947: Jessie Street appointed as the Australian representative to the newly established United Nations Commission on the Status of Women

1966: Bar on married women as permanent employees in the federal public service abolished

1969: Equal pay determination by the Commonwealth Conciliation and Arbitration Commission introduces the principle of ‘equal pay for work of equal value’

1983: Australia ratifies the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women


1984: Federal Sex Discrimination Act passed, to implement the UN Convention domestically

1988: Prime Minister launches the first National Agenda for Women, based on the UN Nairobi Forward-Looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women

1989: Rosemary Follett becomes the first female head of a government in Australia when she is elected Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory

1992: Justice Elizabeth Evatt, President of the Australian Law Reform Commission, becomes the first Australian elected to the UN Human Rights Committee

1999: Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Act introduced into parliament on 22 September, replacing the Affirmative Action Act 1986

2010: Australia's first female Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

Tasmanian Tigers

The Tasmanian Tiger, Thylacinus cynocephalus, was a large, carnivorous (meat-eating) marsupial that is probably extinct. It is not closely related to the tiger.

Habitat and Extinction: The Tasmanian Tiger lived in dry eucalyptus forests, wetlands, and grasslands in continental Australia, Tasmania, and New Guinea. It went extinct in mainland Australia about 2,000 years ago due to competition from dingoes. In Tasmania, the Tasmanian Tiger went extinct in 1936 after being killed in large numbers by sheep farmers who settled in Tasmania (the Tasmanian Tiger ate a lot of sheep). The last known Tasmanian Tiger, named Benjamin, died in captivity at the Hobart Zoo. Despite its supposed extinction, there are a few unconfirmed Tasmanian Tiger sightings each year in Tasmania.

   Anatomy: The Tasmanian Tiger was 6 feet (1.8 m) long, including the tail, and weighed about 65 pounds (30 kg). This mammal had light brown fur with a series of black stripes along the back from the base of the tail almost to the shoulders. The tail was long and stiff; it could not wag like the tail of a dog. The skull was large and its jaws could open 120 degrees, wider than any other mammal.   Diet: The Tasmanian Tiger was a carnivore who hunted at night and at dusk and dawn. It ate wallabies, rabbits, sheep, poultry, goats, and other animals. It was a solitary hunter who used its keen sense of smell to find its prey. Although it wasn't a fast runner, it had great stamina, and pursued its prey until the victim was exhausted.   Reproduction: Females had a rear-facing pouch in which the tiny immature young lived for many months, drinking the female's milk.

Big Cats

Sightings of exotic big cats in Australia began more than 100 years ago. The New South Wales State Government reported in 2003 that it was "more likely than not" that there was a colony of exotic big cats living in the bush near Sydney.

Gippsland phantom cat

In the Gippsland region of south-eastern Victoria, the origin of the cats is claimed to be American World War II airmen who brought cougars with them as mascots and released them in the Australian Bush. Photographic evidence is often difficult to interpret.

Grampians puma

A study by Deakin University concluded that a big cat population in the Grampians mountain range is "beyond reasonable doubt".

Blue Mountains Panther

The Blue Mountains Panther is a phantom cat reported in sightings in the Blue Mountains area, west of Sydney, New South Wales for over a century. Speculation about the Blue Mountains Panther includes the theory that it is descended from either circus or zoo escapees, or is a descendant of a military mascot.
Video footage showing a large black cat near Lithgow was examined by a group of seven zoo, museum, parks and agriculture staff, who concluded that it was a large domestic cat (2–3 times normal size) based partly on its morphology and partly on the behaviour of a nearby normal-sized domestic cat.

Tantanoola Tiger

The region around Tantanoola, a town in the south-east of South Australia was supposed to have been the stalking ground of The Tantanoola Tiger during the late nineteenth century. In 1895 an animal believed to be the Tantanoola Tiger was shot and identified as an Assyrian wolf. It was stuffed and remains on display in the Tantanoola Hotel.

A few bits of circumstantial evidence suggest to some that feral cats in Australia are now reaching enormous sizes, equivalent to that of a small leopard

Sunshine Coast big cats

There have been some claims that "Big Cats" have stalked the hinterland of the Sunshine Coast  Queensland since early in the 19th century. These claims have been met with scepticism.

Worlds longest Fish

 

 

This one is a really strange looking fish. Growing to 17 metres in length this would have to be the worlds longest fish. The oarfish prefers deep oceanic waters but is sometimes found in estuaries and bays and washed up on beaches during violent storms and heavy swells. It is long and slender and a shiny silver colour with a orange dorsal fin,and is one of  the worlds longest fish.


In days past, it was believed that a swimming oarfish would 'row' with its pelvic fins in a circular motion, hence the common name.  Unfortunately folk tales aren't always true.  The strange pelvic fins are now believed to be used for taste perception not locomotion

Allegedly this Photograph shows US servicemen in Laos during the Vietnam War with a captured Mekong Dragon, Phaya Naga, Mekong Naga or enormously overgrown eel. It is widely circulated in Laos. However, the photograph was actually taken in 1996 and shows a Giant Oarfish, found on the shore of the Pacific Ocean near San Diego, California. This extremely rare specimen was 23 ft (7.0 m) long and weighed 300 lb (140 kg).



An Oarfish on the beach at Busselton, Western Australia, 8 November 2003. The fish was spotted at dusk on consecutive days. On the second day it beached itself but was returned to the water by onlookers. The fish swam away, apparently unharmed.