01x05 - Louis the Fish

[bunniefuu]

♪ Reading rainbow ♪

♪ Butterfly in the sky ♪

♪ I can go twice as high ♪

♪ Take a look ♪

♪ It's in a book ♪

♪ A reading rainbow ♪

♪ I can go anywhere ♪

♪ Friends to know ♪

♪ And ways to grow ♪

♪ A reading rainbow ♪

♪ I can be anything ♪

♪ Take a look ♪

♪ It's in a book ♪

♪ A reading rainbow ♪

♪ Reading rainbow ♪

Hi. Isn't the new england
aquarium great?

It's so much fun to see
another world underwater.

I love to come visit
the fish here.

They have exhibits with dogfish,
catfish, cowfish, and hogfish.

This is the giant
ocean t*nk,

The largest t*nk
of its kind in the world.

And you can see
barracudas,

Sea turtles,
triggerfish...

Even sharks!

There are many different
kinds of fish in the world.

These are
giant groupers.

I wonder what it would
be like to be a fish.

Is it all wet and
slippery underwater?

Do fish scales feel
rough from the inside?

How do fish sleep
without eyelids?

Do they mind having
sand in their beds?

Is flapping a fin
like waving a hand?

I don't know.

But I just read
a very interesting book

About a person
who loved fish.

It's called
louis the fish.

Some mysterious
things happen in it.

I'd say these fish
were talking.

Boy! This guy can't
take his eyes off us.

I wonder why
human beings

Are always
staring in here.

They must be
admiring us.

Oh, stop fishing
for compliments.

What is it like
to be human?

On a scale
of 1 to 10?

What's this guy
reading?

Oh, that book is
louis the fish.

I saw it at the
public library.

What were you doing
at the library--

Looking for bookworms?

No, it's
a good book.

It's got some
great lines.

I'm hooked already.

One day last spring,

Louis, a butcher,

Turned into a fish--

Silvery scales,

Big lips,

A tail--

A salmon.

Louis did not lead before this
an unusual life.

His grandfather
was a butcher.

His father
was a butcher.

So louis was a butcher.

He had a small shop,

Steady customers,
good meat.

He was always friendly,
always helpful...

A wonderful guy.

But louis was not
a happy man.

He hated meat.

On birthdays,
his parents

Would hand him
a gift-wrapped salami.

When he was 13,
they gave him a turkey.

Louis did anything
to get away from meat.

He got a job

Cleaning fish tanks
in a doctor's office.

Louis
loved the job.

For hours,
he'd stare at the fish,

Their eyes blinking,

Their fins flapping.

But a good thing
doesn't last long.

One night at dinner,

Louis' mother said
to his father,

"Why does louis have
to sl*ve over those fish?

Can't you give him
a job in the store?"

"But ma, I like--"

"You're right, rose.

"Tomorrow after school,
you come to the store.

It's time you learn
something about meat."

And that was it.

Every day, louis was
at his father's shop.

"Someday, this will
all be yours,"

His father would say.

And it was.

His parents
died suddenly.

Louis took over
the butcher shop.

For years, that's
where he worked.

Louis was so unhappy.

His only happy times

Were when he was
in the refrigerator.

He'd sit for hours
drawing fish.

Big ones,
little ones.

He'd draw them
all over the place.

Surrounded by steaks,

All louis thought about
was fish.

But then it got worse.

He began to see
fish everywhere--

At home, on the bus,
at ballgames.

Even his customers began
to look like fish to him.

Business started
to fail.

His health declined.

He was always thirsty.

"Water!"

At night, louis
had trouble sleeping.

One night in may,

He had bad dreams.

He dreamt he was walking
down the street

And was att*cked.

Hamburgers were
punching him.

Salamis kicked him.

Lamb chops, roast beefs,
and briskets

Ganged up on him.

He yelled for help...

But no one came.

That morning, louis woke up
feeling cold and wet.

He was a fish!

A salmon!

Al from al's pet store

Found him on the bus
going up flatbush.

"Look at that face,"
he told his customers.

"I couldn't eat him,

So I brought
him here."

Louis soon forgot everything
about being a butcher,

Living on flatbush,

Or even being
a human being.

After a hard life,

Louis was
a happy fish.

That's really
marvelous.

What a whale
of a story!

A beautiful
fish tale.

Why, thank you!

Not your
fish tail--

The tale of
louis the fish.

The story!

Lucky louis didn't have
to flounder through life

As a human.

It must be every
human's dream.

To go to sleep
a person...

And wake up
a salmon.

That's the best
fish story

I've heard in years.

Louis was happy
to become a fish.

I'd like to see
the world

From a fish's
viewpoint,

But not if it meant
always being in a school.

After being a fish,

I'd like to turn
into something else,

Like a giraffe so I could
see above the tree tops.

Or maybe an eagle.

I've always
wanted to fly.

If you could be
anything,

What would you choose?

I'd like to be
an alligator

Because it has
sharp teeth,

It can swim well,

And it is green.

I'd rather
be a snake.

A duck.

A lion.

A hummingbird.

A horse.

I'd be a camel
because it has two humps.

A camel's
my favorite animal.

A leopard.

Giraffe.

A rabbit.

A monkey because they
swing around on vines.

I'd be a shark.
I like the water.

♪ I can really see ♪

♪ Why you would
want to be ♪

♪ A fish like me ♪

♪ Living in the ocean ♪

♪ Is like a fantasy ♪

♪ It's so easy ♪

♪ Living way
down below ♪

♪ The sea will
take you anywhere ♪

♪ You want to go ♪

♪ All around
you can feel ♪

♪ The ocean flow ♪

♪ The motion
will astound you ♪

♪ Come on down ♪

♪ There's so much
to see ♪

♪ Look around ♪

♪ Just floating free ♪

♪ I have found ♪

♪ It's the best way
to be ♪

♪ Just take it
from me ♪

♪ Sea living ♪

♪ Try it out
for a week or two ♪

♪ And you will
surely see ♪

♪ A barracuda or
an angelfish ♪

♪ Was what you
were meant to be ♪

♪ Be a shark ♪

♪ And everyone gets
out of your way ♪

♪ Be an eel ♪

♪ And lie on
the bottom all day ♪

♪ Be a lobster ♪

♪ Glimmer like
a butterfly fish ♪

♪ Live in a shell ♪

♪ If that's
what you wish ♪

♪ Be a whale ♪

♪ Be a seahorse, too ♪

♪ Be a snail ♪

♪ Be a bright
shade of blue ♪

♪ Grow a tail ♪

♪ And grow a fin or two ♪

♪ It's all up to you ♪

♪ Sea living ♪

♪ Sea living ♪

♪ It's easy living ♪

♪ Sea living ♪

♪ It's easy living ♪

♪ Sea living ♪

♪ It's easy living ♪

♪ Sea living ♪

♪ It's easy living ♪

♪ Sea living ♪

♪ It's easy living ♪♪

If louis were swimming
around in the ocean,

He'd meet a lot
of creatures.

Not all
would be fish.

There's a variety
of animals.

Some--like whales, sea lions,
and dolphins--are mammals.

Mammals can't breathe
underwater like fish.

They need air.

Sea mammals
can do things

Fish never dreamed of.

Did you know that whales
sing and dolphins whistle?

Sea mammals are
warm-blooded.

They care
for each other.

Mothers nurse their young.

They're not cold fish.

When a dolphin smiles,
you'll want to hug her.

Dixie, give
me a hug.

They love to do whatever
you see them doing.

Everybody will tell you

A dolphin has
a built-in smile,

And that's
exactly right.

They're very
independent thinkers.

They're very
peaceful animals.

They like to spend their time
playing and eating.

A pretty ideal life.

Hello. My name's
dennis markum.

This is my place,

The aqua circus
of cape cod.

These are my dolphins,
dixie and dolly.

Dolphins are
very interesting.

There's a lot about them
we know and don't know.

They have
the fish's shape,

But dolphins are mammals,
and they breathe air.

They hold their
breath underwater

For six to eight minutes.

If they stay longer,
they can drown.

Dixie has
a long nose.

This is the atlantic
bottle-nose dolphin.

It looks like
a bottle.

The nose
is very hard.

It's solid bone.

Its prime function
is for defense.

Sometimes, hungry sharks

Go looking for little
dolphins to eat.

What probably
would happen--

Because dolphins
travel in groups--

Is some of
the big adults

Will form a circle
around the youngsters,

Just like wagon trains
did in the old days.

But they form
a protective circle,

And the bigger adults
will attack that shark

Using their nose.

They use it
as a battering ram

And k*ll the shark.

He has 96
very sharp teeth.

The dolphins use
those teeth to hold fish.

They don't chew
their food.

They swallow it whole.

I'll get dixie to come.

[Whoosh]

Did you hear
that sound?

The dolphins breathe
through a blowhole.

Their mouths go
to their stomachs

So they can eat
underwater.

But when they dive,
it's closed up

So no water
gets down there.

I'll get dixie
to stand up.

We can see
more of his body--

Eeeiii!

Oh! Dixie's
talking now.

Those two flippers on
his side are pectoral flippers.

Dolphins use them
to steer themselves.

On the middle back
is another flipper or a fin.

It's called the dorsal.

If we can get
another look...

Dolly is swimming away.

You can see a big,
broad tail fluke.

It's the dolphin's
locomotion.

They move that tail
up and down to move along.

They can swim about 40 mph
in the open ocean.

Dolphins have pretty
good eyesight.

They see well
when the water is clear.

Sometimes, they're
in murky water

Or perhaps it's dark,

And they might be
hunting for fish.

They have an ability
to see without eyes.

It's a sonar,

Which is how submarines
detect other ships.

The dolphins send
a clicking sound out.

It bounces off fish
and returns to the dolphin.

They receive it on this
round part of their forehead.

This part of the forehead
is the "melon."

That's where the sounds
are received.

The brain translates
that information

So they can tell if
it's a fish or a shark

Or a ship or a swimmer.

The skin on the dolphin
is pretty special, too.

It's nice and smooth.

It feels like
a wet inner tube,

Like the tire tubes
at beaches.

It moves through
the water smoothly.

That's exactly why
a dolphin's skin is smooth.

See dixie?

He's spitting at me.

Dolphins think and act
like 6-year-old children.

Dixie doesn't want me
to pay attention to you.

He wants my attention,
so he's spitting at me.

Sometimes, if I don't
pay enough attention,

He'll start to show off,

Like your little
brothers and sisters.

Ehhhhhhhhh...

Making a sound.
He's talking to me, saying,

"I'm having fun and getting food
without earning it."

That sound comes
from the blowhole,

Where they breathe.

They force air through there,
making sounds.

They don't talk
to each other like that.

They have another language
we don't know much about.

It's a system of squeaks
and whistles.

Many sounds
are so high-pitched,

We can't hear them
with the ear or machinery.

We know dolphins
have a language.

We've seen them
work together

And hunt as a group

Where one dolphin signals
another to attack fish.

We don't know exactly
how they talk to each other.

It's very, very sophisticated,
very complex.

I hope you've seen
that working with dolphins

Can be lots of fun.

It's also a very
wet job to have.

But I really enjoy this.

I hope you've learned
a little bit about dolphins.

When you see one,
remember dixie and dolly.

I've enjoyed talking to you.
Good-bye.

Dolphins are lovable,

But you wouldn't want
to hug this.

This is a sea urchin.

You see these spines?
Feels like a pincushion.

Here's an interesting guy
from the sea.

This is a horseshoe crab.

He's got blue blood.

He's about as old
as the dinosaurs.

He uses this tail to turn
him over when he's upside-down.

Pretty neat, huh?

Sea stars don't have
any ears, fingers, or toes.

But they do
have five arms

And hundreds of tiny feelers
called "tube feet."

They tell him everything
he needs to know.

He can grab onto things
with them and move around.

This is one of my favorite
creatures from the sea.

It's called
a "moon snail."

Look at those colors.

Knock, knock, knock.
Anybody home?

He's home. Snails never
leave their shells.

Pretty small world.

But yours doesn't
have to be. Watch.

Roarrrr!

Hmm-hmm.

Ah-choo!

Buzzzzzzz...
Buzzzzzzz...
Buzzzzzzz...

Aarrrooooo!

Mealtime is a favorite
occasion here at the aquarium.

Penguins wear tuxedos
to dinner.

Still hungry, guys?

They are
always hungry.

They eat six pounds
of squid daily

And weigh


You still hungry
for more good books?

Here's some I know
you'll just gobble up.

Do you like monsters?
I do.

I have two--
my brothers.

I'm erica ernest.

I read
where the wild things are.

It's fabulous!

A boy named max
dressed in this wolf suit

And made mischief.

His mother sent him to bed
without supper.

The best part was when
the wild things made max king.

In the rumpus,
they danced, howled, screamed,

And they had fun
and everything.

I'm erica ernest.

If you don't
read this book,

You're missing a lot of fun
and almost everything.

Have you been inside
on rainy days

And had nothing to do?

I read this book,
one monday morning.

A boy was inside
on a rainy day.

Bored, he played
with a deck of cards.

When looking at the cards,

He imagined that the king,
queen, and prince

Wanted to visit him.

This book's an excellent example
of using your imagination.

I recommend it if you're
home on rainy days.

Hi. I'm laura russell.

If you've ever considered
becoming an ichthyologist,

A person who studies fishes,
then this is your book.

A fish hatches by joanna cole
and jerome wexler.

This 39-page book is
filled with photographs

And many facts
about fish--

How they're born,
their habits,

And their
external anatomy.

This is a nonfiction book,
meaning it's based on fact,

And presents the facts
about fish very easily.

I highly recommend it.

The aquarium's a place to
learn about underwater life.

I saw what louis'
new life might be like.

Even though louis
preferred being a fish,

I'm happy
to be who I am.

See you next time!