My Menopause Blog: Guppies

Menopause suddenly appears to becoming fashionable. In the natural world that is.

A week ago we heard about menopausal gorillas. Today it's, guppies.

Fish as pets have never been my thing. I've caught fish, eaten fish and swam with the suckers. This past summer, I even bought a dozen gold fish for my wooden rain barrel, only to watch in horror as they bobbed one by one to the surface, belly up. Other than that, I'm not at one with fish.

So guppies, little minnow sized fish that give birth none stop, eventually out live their reproductive cycle, unless they get eaten first, then technically get thrust into menopause.

Guppies.

A scientist spent time and money working on this. Someone used their education as a biologist to get funding so that he could scoop a baggy of guppies from a stream in Trinidad, do a study, get interviewed about the study and release the findings to the world.

One third of the women of the world are in some stage of menopause and are in various levels of discomfort while some guy studies guppies reproductive lifespan! Sounds fishy to me.

Here's my plan for a better menopause. We write a grant, use the funds for airline tickets and all head to Trinidad for the winter. We could even look up Dr. Guppie and give him something worthwhile to observe.

I feel better just thinking about that.

Sue Richards

Tags: Guppies, menopause, reproduction.