Open+Ocean+Fiction

**// __ ﻿ Another Day of Life in the Ocean__ //**
** ﻿ On one fine day in the ocean, jellyfish (nausithoe aurea) and remora fish were having races in a deserted part of the ocean. Both teams were getting ready for the 100-meter race when the cleaner fish had to fix the track made from algae. Once they were finished, the fastest remora and the fastest jellyfish swam as fast as they could. **   **  ﻿ Unaware of the race, a Leatherback Sea Turtle swam through the track. ** ** ﻿ “Get out of the way!” Shelly the jellyfish shouted. ** ** ﻿ ** ** The remora swam into the turtle. The turtle, Sam, didn’t notice. The remora sucked onto Sam in search for food. All of the other remora did the same. **

** ﻿ The rest of Sam’s family appeared. His wife, Kelly, and his son, Squirt. Squirt noticed the jellyfish. ** ** ﻿ ** ** “Dad, I’ll catch dinner!” he shouted to Sam. ** ** ﻿ ** ** “Where?” Sam replied. ** ** ﻿ ** ** “The jellyfish are almost asking for us to catch them!” Kelly joined the conversation. ** ** ﻿ ** ** ﻿ The family of turtles swam to the jellyfish, the remora still attached to Sam. They started to eat their prey happily. ** ** ﻿﻿ Hiding behind the jellyfish was a school of Madagascar Sea Catfish. The turtles ignored them and swam away. ** ** ﻿ “I’m glad the big turtle dude didn’t eat us!” said Leo, the leader of the catfish. ** **  ﻿ The cleaner fish then noticed the catfish. Minnie, the leader cleaner fish, was friends with Leo. ** ** ﻿ The schools of fish approached each other. ** ** ﻿ “Hey Minnie!” said Leo. ** ** ﻿ “How’s it going?” asked Minnie. ** ** ﻿ “Not bad, yourself?” ** **  ﻿ “Good.” ** ** ﻿ ** ** The two chatted for a while. Meanwhile, a bad catfish saw a bad cleaner fish. ** ** ﻿ “Hey shorty,” said the catfish. **  ﻿ “**What, doofus?” the cleaner fish shot back.**  **  ﻿ After a few minutes of fighting, the catfish tried to eat the cleaner fish. The cleaner fish escaped, but a parasite called amisakis simplex left the cleaner fish and entered the bad catfish. The catfish would soon die, as the parasite would eat all of the catfish’s meals. ** ** ﻿ Not long after this, Tommy, the friendliest blue whale in the ocean, approached all of the fish. **

** ﻿ “Hi Tommy!” all of the fish said in unison. ** ** ﻿ “Hey guys,” Tommy bellowed, and he noticed the cleaner fish. “Cleaner fish, eh? I could use a wash, you guys want a free meal?” ** ** ﻿ “Yeah we do!” Minnie answered and they started cleaning and eating. The catfish said their goodbyes and swam off. ** ** ﻿ About 20 minutes of talking to they cleaner fish as they cleaned him, Tommy thanked the cleaner fish. ** ** ﻿ “Anytime!” a cleaner fish replied. The school of cleaner fish swam back to their business called “Whale Wash.” ** **﻿ Tommy swam off to his home under algae, and the part of the ocean where all of the action took place remained empty for years. ** BiomesFifth10 Open Ocean Home Open Ocean Facts Open Ocean Food Web Open Ocean Conservation Open Ocean Bibliography