AqualogNEWS100
13
Aesculapiuswas thegodof healing,ormore accurately ademigod, as he
was fatheredby thegodApolloon themortal Coronis.HenceAesculapius
washimselfmortal andwaseventuallykilledbyZeus, themightiestof the
gods, because he perfected healing to such an extent that he brought a
deadpersonback to life, therebyarousing theanger of thegods.
Europe’sholy snake
byThorstenHoltmann
Juvenilesof theAesculapianSnakehave contrast-richpatterning,especiallyon thehead.
(according to some reports)
P. petenensis
,
the Petén molly, which may have been
involved in crosses some 70 or so years
ago.
We thereforehavea situationwith today’s
black sailfins somewhat similar to theone
that applies to platies and swordtails in
thatmanyof the fishwehave inour tanks
are fertilehybridswhose exact parentage
is
often
difficult
to
determine.
Nonetheless, they remain as popular
today as they’ve always been…and are
likely to remain sowell into the future.
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank the following
gentlemen for their willingness to share
their knowledge and views with me
during thepreparationof this article:
•Dr. Alex Ploeg – Secretary General of
Ornamental Fish International (OFI)
•Dr. Gerald Bassleer – President - OFI, and
proprietor of Bassleer Biofish,Belgium
•Dr. Ling Kai Huat – Ornamental Fish
Specialist at the Agri-food andVeterinary
Authority,Singapore
Schlangen
esculapius is always
portrayed as a bearded
man bearing a staff, which in
turn has a snake winding
round it. Even today the
staff
of
Aesculapius
remains the symbol of the
medical profession. Naturally
it is impossible to say precisely
what species the snake
winding round thestaff is.But
thereare comparatively few
snakespecies inEuropethat
climb regularly.Oneof these is
theAesculapianSnake,
Elaphe
(or
Zamenis
)
longissima
,whichhence
hasbecome linkedwith thegodofhealing.
But itsscientificnamemeansnothingof the
sort,but simply“the longest”. Laurenti,who
gave the snake its Latin name, probably
didn’tbelieve in thecult...
A
