…and this is a joke whose punchline has yet to cross my threshold. In an incredible ongoing saga, yet another animal engages in one-upmanship in Fairbanks and STEALS THE SHOW!

Strangely enough, fish have been dropping from the sky into parking lots in Fairbanks. Not flying fish, and not just any common fish, but Arctic lamprey. And they’ve done it enough that they made the Fairbanks Daily News Miner’s front page — twice! The front page article on Thursday focused on the phenomenon, while the front page article on Friday focused on the live one recovered (on exhibit at the Alaska department of Fish and Game) and the biology of the fish and the likely reason behind their occurrence in parking lots.

These fish didn’t fly on their own to land in parking lots and on lawns. They were almost certainly carried aloft by greedy gulls who couldn’t stand the press that the ducklings got last week (okay, that’s my addition, but I pay close attention to birds). Unfortunately, their fishing prowess was almost overlooked due to the unusual nature of their prey. These odd fish are parasitic, anadromous, and ugly, a sure-fire combination to titillate a fish-loving public. And fish-loving well describes the people of Fairbanks. Although we’ll wait with breath abated for the next front-page animal news story, this one would be a fine cap to the season’s series of odd animal invasions into places we humans consider our own.

Arctic lamprey (Fairbanks Daily News Miner)