The company I work for is located in the middle of a town in Saitama Prefecture. Nearby, there is a small river. It is lined with concrete banks, deeply dug, giving it the appearance of a typical urban river.
However, even in such a river, if I take a closer look, I can find quite a few fish. About 7 or 8 years ago, I could see Pale Chub (Opsariichthys platypus) spawning there. I used to go and watch them after finishing lunch during my break.
But for the past few years, aquatic plants have proliferated in the river, making it impossible for me to observe the spawning.
It’s not that the Pale Chub have disappeared; I can occasionally see them emerging from the shadows of the plants. It’s just that their spawning has become invisible. At least for a few years, I was able to observe them, and I thought that whenever I came here, I could see them. However, nature changes its form without me noticing. The fact that I could see them spawning so easily in the past might have been the real miracle.
Today’s River
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