Lio by Mark Tatulli for August 06, 2022

piraña

It’s time to change the pool water

Too late to save your friend.

Just when Dad thought it was safe to into the water. Hard to believe Jaws was released 47 summers ago.

I think it is time to invite Red and Rover over.

Lio enjoying his Saturday by fishing…

You just need the right bait.

Liō and Yorick gone fishin’.

Alas, Poor Yorick

How many people has Lio killed?

The summer pool Laughing Piranha. Very dangerous, very dangerous indeed….

I don’t get it. Why is Lio fishing in a kiddy pool? Why are there piranas in a kiddy pool? Why is he using a skull as bait? Why are the fish laughing?

Well, that’s what you get when you stock your pool with hungry piranha.

Oh Lio, you’re going to need more than piranhas to hide the evidence.

“Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio, a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy. He hath bore me on his back a thousand times, and now how abhorr’d in my imagination it is! My gorge rises at it.”

Alas, poor Yorick. They chewed you well.

Lip must be forming an Island of Lost Schools!

Piranha means “tooth fish” in Tupi, and yes, its sharp teeth are a prominent trait,

But it’s not very likely to skeletonize you. It doesn’t deserve all the hate.

When Theodore Roosevelt went to Brazil, he declared it the fiercest of fish.

Well, we’ve learned that Brazilians had starved those piranhas. To put on a show was the wish.

You might get a nibble when close to their eggs, and their jaw muscles really are strong,

But the coroners say that the tales where piranhas eat humans alive are all wrong.

The red-bellied ones tend to swim in big shoals, but that isn’t to hunt like in packs.

They have the same reason as many small fishes: protection from hunters’ attacks.

It does stand to reason that fishes that small would be loath to attack a large prey.

They’ve sooner resorted to cannibalism. We humans could scare them away.

In fact, there are species that don’t prefer meat, such as some that live chiefly on seeds.

There is one with flat teeth in the genus Tometes that munches on just river weeds.

Piranhas might go for a nearly dead human. The same could be said of a vulture.

The latter’s not feared much, so why should the former? It’s simply a myth of our culture.

—me

I think it’s time for Eva Rose mess with Lio.

Feeding time at the Amazon pool.

Watch out for those pihranas!

Why are they laughing?

It’s said that Al Capone suffered dementia because he refused to be treated for syphilis (fear of needles). He is alleged to have tried fishing in a swimming pool.