Cole: 'Any old fish' has a backbone

Thomas Cole

Published: November 1, 2009

Morganton, NC - Burke County school board member and candidate Tracy Norman posted on her Web site a motto: "Any old fish can float down stream, but it takes a backbone to fight the current and go upstream." At the chamber forum she told it to us again, but maybe a little differently.
Either way, she is implying there are fish out there without backbones. Will someone please let the chairperson of our school board know that all fish are vertebrates and, by definition, have backbones? I don't want her to confuse the kids and make them get an answer wrong on a science test.
Also, I think the saying [Editor's note: From comic actor W.C. Fields] actually goes like this: "A dead fish can float downstream, but it takes a live one to swim upstream."
Just in case you are wondering, jellyfish are not fish; they are in the Cnidaria family.