I've been getting many questions about the fish cartoon ... "Why does it have 2 mouths?" "What does it mean?" "Why a 2-jawed fish?".

Here is the answer:

Back in 2008, a mutant fish with 2 jaws had been pulled out of Lake Athabasca, near the Alberta Oilsands by two young children.



I immediately thought, my goodness, this is like Blinky, the 3-eyed fish from the Simpson's pulled out of the lake beside the nuclear power plant. (For those of you who don't already know, I am a huge Simpsons fan!)



I named the Athabasca fish "Chompy" (you know, a fish with three eyes is called "Blinky", so therefore it is logical to name a fish with two jaws "Chompy"). Because I can't draw to save my life, I hired a wonderful cartoonist by the name of Rick Servande to bring Chompy to life. You can see him at the top of this page.

There are several articles about this alarming catch, and the subsequent public anxiety about pollution and the Canadian government's perceived blind-eye policy toward the environmental practices of oil companies operating in the area:

http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/story.html?id=c04b41c6-5bba-4233-a808-df76a2569142

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/edmonton/story/2008/08/18/chip-fish.html

http://www.edmontonsun.com/news/2010/09/16/15374701.html?comments_page=3&id=15374701

http://www.themarknews.com/articles/2430-mutant-fish-found-near-oil-sands

http://www.qbn.com/topics/562574/

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/prairies/mutant-fish-lead-to-calls-for-ottawa-to-monitor-oil-sands/article1711070/

... plus a blog posting that captures my sentiments, on the issue including the parallel to The Simpsons (I think it's always a bit disconcerting whenever real life begins to resemble The Simpsons):

http://www.lilithnews.com/2008/08/mutant-oil-sands-fish-something-out-of.html

*** I had originally thought that this particular fish had also been eaten, having remembered reading something about that. I was slightly mistaken ... turns out it was another 2-jawed mutant fish, caught in Nebraska in 2005, that was eaten. ***

http://journalstar.com/news/article_29ea47c7-a30b-559a-9228-9329c920df2d.html

In a much less-hyped article that appeared some time later, scientists state that what appeared to be a mutant fish was actually a fish that has 2 sets of teeth and that in a natural state of decomposition could appear to have 2 jaws.

http://www2.canada.com/society+commits+clinical+trial+liberation+treatment/3538943/story.html?id=1383289

Food for thought, in any case ...