Happy Fall in Love With Fish Day!

It started as a joke.

Valentine’s Day never jazzed me. The Monterey Bay Aquarium did, but it was always thronged with human beings.

One year, about 20 years ago, I got the idea to take my kids to the Monterey Bay Aquarium on Valentine’s Day. The school kids, I thought, would be busy with classroom parties that day. My kids and I would be able to enjoy the aquarium in relative peace.

In high good humor on the way down, I joked with the kids, “Today is Fall In Love With Fish Day! Which fish do you think you will fall in love with?”

The children groaned at first, but soon engaged in a lively debate, not just on which fish most deserved their affections, but also on what constituted a “fish.” The Monterey Bay Aquarium was persnickety on the latter point, reserving the “Fish” category for chordates, and most particularly, bony fishes. Other forms of sea life, like our beloved jellies, seahorses, octopi, and cuttlefish, are not True Fishes.

The otters were right out.

We have since come to relax a bit on the definition of “Fish,” but mammals still don’t qualify. Not even my most impassioned argument that, in the early days, “Fish” referred to any animal that lives in water can sway the Monterey Bay Aquarium-trained younger generation. A mammal cannot be a fish, and neither can a bird. No whales, no barnacle geese, and certainly no capybara need apply.

The invertebrates, on the other hand, get a more sympathetic hearing. Everyone loves a moon jelly or a sea dragon. Who can argue against the guileless splendor of the cuttlefish? Mollusks, echinoderms, and other invertebrates slip under the door.

The first year’s joke became the second year’s expectation.

“When will we go to the Aquarium for Fall In Love With Fish Day?”

The question took me by surprise the next year, but I soon caught on. Fall In Love With Fish Day had become a family tradition. Each year carved the tradition a little deeper. Short rituals developed. The holiday evolved an unspoken meaning. We’d created this space to fall in love with fish, and something in the ocean reached back out to connect with us.

Fall In Love With Fish Day became a fun and joyful way for us to spend family time with sea life.

The next question was “Can some friends come join us for Fall In Love With Fish Day?” while another child exchanged fishy greetings with her partner. Fall In Love Fish Day was spreading beyond our family. It made at least as much sense to people as Valentine’s Day, and most of the people we know are willing to go along with an idea and see what happens to it.

This year, someone is hosting a Fall In Love With Fish Day party. There will be cookie-making and fishy crafts and under-the-sea karaoke.