Euroclub Schools - Feeding the fish in Sicily

A Very Exciting Underwater Experience.
By Claudia

This is the true story about the first day of my holiday
in Sicily, last summer.

I was having great fun, swimming in the beautiful sea, using my mask and flippers.
sicily

'È fantastico!' I thought, as I swam about, pretending to be a deep-sea action-girl. Every now and then, I saw an interesting shell lying at the bottom on the white sand.

Then, I noticed that there were no fish!
'Dove sono i pesci?' 'Where are all the fish?' I asked myself. This seemed very strange. Shouldn't the sea be full of fish?

I decided to do some underwater investigating.
'Uno, due, tre!'
I dived down a few metres.

There was not even one fish to be seen.
There was only a clear sea with white sand, some rocks and some sea-weed on the bottom.

'Mamma mia!' Sometimes I saw a jellyfish, or 'una medusa' as they are called in Italian.

I felt very lonely, so I came out of the water and sat on a rock to eat a sandwich.
The sandwich wasn't very nice, so I secretly threw it
into the sea.

At that moment, I couldn't believe my eyes!
Suddenly, the floating sandwich was whizzing all over the place like a mini speed boat on top of the water. There was splashing all around.

'Molto strano!' Very strange! Sandwiches do NOT move on their own. What was causing this mysterious event?

'Let's investigate!' I put on my mask and flippers and jumped back into the water.

The mystery was solved! I found myself underwater in the middle of hundreds and thousands of fish! They were attacking the floating sandwich. It felt like I was swimming in a fish tank. I was totally surrounded by hungry fish.

I began to worry. 'I hope they don't bite,' I thought.

It was time to conduct an experiment! Would the fish eat from my hand? I held a piece of bread and ...... Sì! Yes! The fish nibbled away until the bread was gone and their little teeth tickled my fingers.

Then, I had a great idea for another experiment!
'Let's see if there is anything that the fish do not eat!'

My big sister was watching and she helped me with my investigation. She threw in some pieces of melon, then some pasta, some pizza, cheese and salad. The fish arrived in thousands. It was a feast for fish! They ate EVERYTHING!

The water bubbled furiously as the fish jumped around, especially when we threw in the slice of pizza. It was definitely their favourite food. You could even hear a munching sound as they came to the surface to bite off the pieces of pizza!

(Hungry, Sicilian fish. Photo by Claudia.)

Hundreds of Sicilian seagulls started to arrive too. They floated on top of the water and pecked each other as they fought for the food. I was trapped between nibbling fish and pecking birds. 'Aiuto!' Help!

The fluffy seagulls were the young ones. I felt sorry for them because the older seagulls bullied them and didn't let them have any of the food.

(A young, fluffy, Sicilian seagull. Photo taken by Claudia.)

When all the food was gone, the fish swam away.
The seagulls flew away.
Once again, the sea became a lonely place with not one fish to be seen.

Now that I am back home, I often think of my friends the Sicilian fish. I miss them very much and I really enjoyed visiting their world. One day soon, I will return with more food. I am going to discover if they eat chocolate, crisps and Brussels sprouts. I will let you know the results.

I think that the sea is a very beautiful and interesting place and it belongs to the fish (and partly to the seagulls). For that reason, we should all help to look after the sea.

La Fine
The End

Claudia's Italian Vocabulary Book
il pesce - the fish      il mare - the sea
la sabbia - the sand       la barca - the boat
la medusa - the jelly fish         la maschera - the mask

le pinne - the flippers       l' acqua - the water
la conchiglia - the shell    sotto - under
il gabbiano - the seagull         affamato - hungry
il panino - the sandwich       nuotare - to swim
mangiare - to eat      Mi piace - I like