Japanese Myth: Catfish and Earthquakes

 There have been superstitions and myths all over the world since ancient times.

Japan is no exception. However, ｗith the development of science, many of them have disappeared. Still, some of them still continue to exist.

Japan is a country that is prone to earthquakes. Some superstitions have arisen to explain this phenomenon. The most famous of them is that "a catfish run amok causes an earthquake”.

Don't you think this is very strange?

Its possible that this is based on real events. Some catfish may be observed acting strangely before an earthquake, which would make people think that they were the cause. The Japanese apparently thought that catfish had supernatural powers that controlled earthquakes.

Some older Japanese imagined a giant catfish running rampant in the ground, and there is an illustration of it in a document from about 160 years ago. At that time there was a huge earthquake in Japan. The people were terrified and imagined a supernatural force. It is not known who created the first depiction of a catfish causing an earthquake. Before long, illustrations of catfish became popular and many similar drawings spread. There are more than 250 known illustrations depicting this superstition.

There are patterns in how these illustrations are made. The most common one is a composition of someone holding down a giant catfish. It can be an incarnation of a god, a people, a monkey or a horse. There are also humorous ones in which the catfish is anthropomorphized in a kimono.

But why a catfish?

People today would dismiss such superstitions. However, today, some scientists are scientifically examining the relationship between catfish and earthquakes. Catfish are known to be sensitive to electricity. One scientist speculates that when earthquakes occur, the geomagnetic field is often disrupted and that catfish may sense it electrically.

According to the latest research, catfish are creatures with very interesting characteristics.

Catfish live in ponds and lakes. They are said to be omnivorous and greedy, but how do they get a "meal" in the muddy water where they cannot see? The secret lies in their "sense of taste".

The vertebrate organs that sense taste are called taste buds. If you look closely at the tongue, you can see that it is full of tiny protrusions. These are the taste buds. The human tongue has between 5,000 and 7,000 taste buds. Incidentally, carnivorous mammals have few taste buds, with cats having only about 500. Carnivores kill animals on the spot and eat them, so they don't need the ability to discern the difference in as many tastes.

In contrast, herbivorous mammals have a very large number of taste buds, with cows having 25,000 taste buds. This is because herbivores need to distinguish between poisonous and nutritious food from the mixed grasslands of different types of grasses.

Taste buds, which are responsible for detecting food toxins, are usually found on the tongue and other parts of the oral cavity. However, a catfish has these taste buds all over its body. Moreover, they have 200,000 taste buds. They have about 40 times as many taste buds as humans do. The catfish uses these taste buds instead of its eyes to search for small fish to feed on. If a small fish touches a catfish inadvertently, its presence is instantly detected.

And that's not all. The catfish is able to follow the taste of the small fish as it drifts along with the current. The taste buds on the surface of the body allow the catfish to find its target as it moves toward the stronger taste. By measuring the time difference between the taste buds on the whiskers and the taste buds near the tail, we can even pinpoint the exact location of the small fish.

This new scientific knowledge may shed some light on the origin of the catfish’s association with earthquakes. If their hypothesis is correct, it may prove that while catfish cannot cause an earthquake, they may be able to predict one.