On the Air: December 22, 2024

One of the changes that goes along with aging is hair color. Red, blonde, black—regardless of the original color, our hair almost always turns gray or silver.

Fish don’t have hair, but many of them do change color as they age. They can take on different color schemes as they move through different stages of life.

Fish change color for many reasons. Some of the changes happen in a flash—a fish might blend into the background to protect itself from predators. Other changes are more gradual. A fish might change color when it switches gender, for example.

In Print: December 1, 2024

Take a moment to imagine what you think is the largest sea creature on Earth. How big is it? Are you thinking of the blue whale? At somewhere between 80 to 110 feet long, blue whales are about as long as an NBA basketball court, and, at 20 to 25 feet across, about half as wide as one.