Apr 29, 2026 · 33 min · 16 segments
**Salps** are the strangest, most extraordinary of your reasonably close relatives in the Animal Kingdom ... some of the most extraordinary animals on Earth, in fact ... fellow chordates, yet so very…
Whatever business goes on in the British Parliament, all of it is recorded approximately word for word in Hansard, the official record of parliamentary proceedings.
It began in a less comprehensive form and under a different name in 1803, so there's a reasonably reliable archive going back over 200 years of everything that has been said in the UK Parliament.
So March 1925, the Secretary for Scotland, Sir John Gilmour, appeared before Parliament to take questions, and a chap called Commander Williams asked this: "What results have been obtained from the investigations of the salp in northern waters and as to its effect on the herring industry?" I'm not going to attempt funny voices or accents, by the way, though I think they would probably enhance all this.
Part of Sir John Gilmour's answer went like this: "In the summers of 1920 and 1921, salps were found in enormous numbers in the northwestern part of the North Sea.
The presence of these Atlantic organisms was evidence of an extensive invasion of the area in question by warm Atlantic water.
The precise effect on the herring fishing has not been established, but it is the fact that in 1920 and 1921 they coincided with poor results in the great herring fishery off the coast of Scotland.
Research into these questions is being continued." And then Major Jack Cohen stood up and became the hero of this little story by demonstrating that there is no such thing as a stupid question.
He said, "Salp, I understand, is a peculiar organism of a trumpet shape." [trumpet fail sound effect] With all due respect to Sir John, I think we can do a bit better than that.
Whatever business goes on in the British Parliament, all of it is recorded approximately word for word in Hansard, the official record of parliamentary proceedings.
It began in a less comprehensive form and under a different name in 1803, so there's a reasonably reliable archive going back over 200 years of everything that has been said in the UK Parliament.
So March 1925, the Secretary for Scotland, Sir John Gilmour, appeared before Parliament to take questions, and a chap called Commander Williams asked this: "What results have been obtained from the investigations of the salp in northern waters and as to its effect on the herring industry?" I'm not going to attempt funny voices or accents, by the way, though I think they would probably enhance all this.
Part of Sir John Gilmour's answer went like this: "In the summers of 1920 and 1921, salps were found in enormous numbers in the northwestern part of the North Sea.
The presence of these Atlantic organisms was evidence of an extensive invasion of the area in question by warm Atlantic water.
The precise effect on the herring fishing has not been established, but it is the fact that in 1920 and 1921 they coincided with poor results in the great herring fishery off the coast of Scotland.
Research into these questions is being continued." And then Major Jack Cohen stood up and became the hero of this little story by demonstrating that there is no such thing as a stupid question.
He said, "Salp, I understand, is a peculiar organism of a trumpet shape." [trumpet fail sound effect] With all due respect to Sir John, I think we can do a bit better than that.
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