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WEB SELF-DIAGNOSED MYSELF WITH ICHTHYOPHOBIA

I typed today’s entry without looking at the screen, hiding my eyes from the pictures. I hate fish – ichthyophobia.  I don’t mind living fish, I visit aquariums, crave sushi, but hate dead fish. I hope that acknowledging my fear lessens its hold.

Gives me the willies just looking at him.

FEAR OF FISH TIMELINE:

1970’s

– Fishing with Dad who makes me stick my fingers in the gills to hold fish for a picture
– I wake up to my dog licking my guppy. I don’t know which scarred me more: that my fish killed himself jumping from the tank or that the dog ate him
– Sea World Annual Membership – fed lots of dead fish to whales

Who’s hungry for fish ‘n’ chips? Pass the malt vinegar!

1980’s
– My dad and I deep-sea fish! I love fishing and sit patiently all day casting and reeling in! Refuse to touch fish to bait the hook or release my catch
– Hand-pick 10 guppies from babysitter’s tank! Bonus: One births 14 babies! I change the water and later find a silver film

The horror!

– 24 carcasses castigating me
– My dad gets goldfish with buggy eyes. It lasted 2 days – 2 days too long

Making eye contact is unnerving.

– Next, Siamese Fighting Fish – Beautiful til it caught Yuck! and sunk like a rock
– Visiting China with my Grandmother, every meal for weeks had fish corpses on a platter. People scraped its meat right from its body with forks. I couldn’t even hold the plate holding the fish

So fresh, I know they felt my fork.

– Boy hangs dead fish on a rope outside my dorm window to show me he cares

1990’s
– Horrified by music video with dying fish

2000’s
– Buy a house: Receive welcome gift of mangled koi in yard. When my ex finally goes to remove it, it’s vanished
– To end the cycle of ichthyophobia with me, I bravely walk past grocery fresh fish displays for my children while diverting my attention elsewhere because if one moves I’ll scream

Eyeless fillets with skin on them, still a no-no

– Millions of silver fish beach themselves along our coast in Southern CA. While the sparkly silver would normally attract me, it’s horrifying to me.

What did this fish-astrophe mean?

Strangely, I eat fish, but only with no signs of fishdom – no skin, no bones, no head.  Next we’ll  cover my fear of eating things that look like they did when they lived. What fears do you have?

2010’sThe fishtales get longer – no exaggeration!

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10 Comments

  1. I seriously laughed out loud more times than I can count. SO funny, and just what I needed tonight. I don’t have the serious phobia you do (I can eat sushi), but can’t look at the dead fish in the market – and there’s no way I could hold a plate with the entree being a dead fish, head and all – Eeek!

    1. Oh no, I can definitely eat sushi. The ones I hesitate with are like the soft-shell crab or the eels but I’ll eat just about any sushi. It just looks like pretty cubes on rice. We’ll do that instead of coffee!

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