chapter 13

Yeah you're right; we can hardly see what's going on though it did move." Rias pointed out. Raynare nods.

"Next rounds are going to be easy since they are all fish." He gets the container that was labeled fish and sets out 7 fish models:

The first fish was thin, skinny, and had a long snout. Not too big.

The second was a type of shark that wasn't all that big that looked like a small nurse shark.

The third was a fish that had the size label of 5 feet. Compared to the rest, it was easily the second largest of the seven fish. It looked like a trout but with a wicked set of teeth.

The next was a garfish but it wasn't as big as they expected: barely half a meter, according to the label. But the teeth on it were still a bit scary.

The next was a sturgeon and going by the label of 7 feet , the scale model beat the third feet.

The next was another shark with a more classic shark body plan, but the back fins had short small barbs in front of them.

The last was like someone took the body of a stingray, made it more triangular shaped, and slapped the back half of a shark to it. Size label: 3 feet.

Raynare's head was practically spinning from all this information. Rias was mildly interested in some of these, mainly the two sharks, the gar fish, and the vicious trout so she selected those while Raynare got the other three. They then placed them in what they thought was the right place and then came back. George inspected their work. He smiled,

"As I said this was easy as all of them are in the Cypress Swamp." He said, pleased with how this game was going. Raynare had some cold grape juice to help with her mild headache and some of the Chinese Apple slices as well.

"Thanks for the snacks."

"Your welcome. Once again Raynare, you win." He said. She smiles. Rias pouts and then looks at George,

"Please tell me the awards is good. If there is one." He nods,

"There's an award and from my perspective, both awards are good."

"Both?"

"I rarely play favorites, mainly towards things that can't voice their negative opinion at me. So to be fair, kind, and generous, you both will get an award: one for 1st place and one for 2nd place." He stated. They both smile. "Now onto the lesson." They take their seats.

"The first fish is called Beleonostomus, or big long mouth, is a type of ray-finned fish belonging to a group of extinct fish called Aspidorhynchids. These fish are akin to a gar or barracuda, being fast moving, long-snouted, predatory fish. Most are saltwater, but this species, that was described in 1902, is freshwater." He explained. They took their notes.

"The next is the shark named Galagadon. This shark was described in 2019 and was found in the leftover rock during a dig in 1990. A dig that uncovered Sue, what is arguably the most Tyrannosaurus Rex in the fossil record." George stated the importance of it, sounding excited talking about Sue. Rias nods,

"I take it we'll hear about this Sue?" She asked. "One day." He said. "It's name is also unique; while don means tooth the Galaga part is from the Galaga game, since it's teeth are thought to resemble the spaceships from there. While it's species name is from a Field Museum Volunteer who helped discover it." He explained the meaning behind its name. Raynare looks,

"Anything else?"

"Since it is recently described, no. Now the next fish is what I gave the generic name of Hell Creek Bowfin while the scientific name is Melvius. Being about 5 feet long, this was the top fish predator, preying on smaller fish and even young dinosaurs that strayed too close to the water's edge." He explained the third fish. Rias had some grapes and snacked on a Fig Newton as she took some notes. She also made a side note for herself: "bring snacks in case lesson is longer than expected."

"Next is another generic name for a fish: Hell Creek Gar, or Lepisosteus. This is another animal alive today and found in many freshwater systems of North America. While most people think of gar as being massive fish with scales that are powerful enough that a gator can't bite through/gator will stay away from, this species is a tiddler, only half a meter long. In fact, I believe the closest analogy is the Spotted Gar: it grows to 2-3 feet long and weighs 6lbs. Though I don't recommend eating it as they have a high amount of the chemical mercury in their system, which is very toxic." He explained about the gar. They took notes. "Odd question Rias," George asked.

"Hmm?"

"Tell me: does Koneko eat fish or me asking that would be seen as racist?" He wondered, almost as if he was thinking out loud.

"No she likes sweets."

"Ok so when she does come, don't tell her I said that; I wouldn't like to be launched into orbit."

He said with a nervous laughter.

"Please continue."

Next is the Hell Creek Sturgeon while scientific name is Acipenser. This species was described in 1876 and despite most sturgeon easily being over 2 meters long and nearly 250lbs, they are bottom-feeders, feeding on crayfish & mussels found on the bottom, using the barbels on the bottom of their snouts to help locate prey." George explained.

"What's a barbel?" Raynare asked.

"A barbel is the same thing the 'whiskers' on a catfish have." He simply said.

"Oh."

"Next is Lonchidion, a shark that is part of an extinct group called Hybodonts. These sharks have been around since before the dinosaurs and outlived them too, but didn't make it to modern day. They are characterized by two things: teeth and the barbs on their bodies. The barbs are used for defense so if a predator tried to swallow one,