Word: diaphenus
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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...fish is Ostracion diaphenus, known to South Africans as Seevarkie or "sea piggy," to the U.S. as the "trunk fish." This eight-inch creature is encased in a bony hide like armor. Dr. von Bonde became interested in it when he learned that Malay fishermen of Cape Town were in the habit of drying it and hanging it up with a string to determine the direction of coming gales. He hung a Seevarkie in a draft-free room in his aquarium. The nose of the dead, free-swinging fish pointed in a certain direction. Sure enough, winds began to blow...
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