stopping the shark trade

A rare bit of good news for marine biodiversity arrived last December from the unlikely location of landlocked Samarkand, Uzbekistan. The 20th conference of the signatories to CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) significantly enhanced the protection of sharks and rays. Time for another feature about cartilaginous fish, or as I now like to call them: chondrichthyans:

Chondrichthyans at the crossroads

Current Biology Volume 36, Issue 1, 5 January 2026, Pages R1-R3

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An oceanic whitetip shark (Carcharhinus longimanus, Critically Endangered) observed at Elphinstone Reef, Egypt. The species has now been added to the Appendix I of CITES, meaning that all trade is banned. (Photo: Polygonia c-album/Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).)

a coconut fiddle

In december I discovered an unusual kind of two-string fiddle at a charity shop. It was lacking the pegs, strings and bridge, the body is a coconut shell with holes that seem to be carved to create the image of an angry cat (or is that me imagining things?):

I think it may be some sort of Asian instrument. The Vietnamese dan gao also appears to have an artfully carved backside (though not necessarily cat-faced). Southern coastal China and Taiwan have a coconut fiddle known as yehu, apparently, where the "ye" syllable specifies that it's made out of a coconut. The Indonesian kongahyan is also similar. If anybody happens to know anything about this sort of instrument, all hints appreciated.

As I couldn't find an exact equivalent to inform me about the set up required, I just improvised something with the materials I happened to have:

The bridge is half a bamboo ring which I previously used on violin 1) before cutting a proper bridge for it:

and the pegs are just sticks from a shrub (Philadelphus coronarius, I think) in our garden.

It does sound nice on the open strings, but the harmonics aren't all that great, so I'm now wondering whether to put the strings much closer to the stick or to add some rings around the stick as frets. Either approach would make it easier to produce higher notes by pressing down the strings. Some of the Asian instruments on Wikipedia also seem to have the strings shortened by a loop tied around the neck and pulling them down. Oh and I should make a bow for it too. Watch this space.