Naming the Mundus maris mascots

Who had thought about mascots? Nobody, really! But we had received the beautiful rendering of baby fish by Mike Yap, a diver, artist and friend of FishBase in the Philippines, and turned them into the eye-catching poster of this year's Green Week in Brussels. Then there were the equally attractive book marks with the positive message: I'm still a baby, help me live and grow! The feedback from the public showed that some awareness about the need to protect the baby fish was created almost instantaneously. From there it was only one step to want to make the baby fish boy and girl the mascots of Mundus maris, as suggested by one of our youthful supporters, Giulia Bottoni.

So, the baby fish needed names to become mascots. Which better way was open than to ask kids and youth for suggestions for names and for stories and adventures they imagined their little heroes had experienced. The participation conditions were straight forward:

1. Propose a she- and a he-name and explain why you propose the(se) specific names and what they mean to you.
2. Imagine what the baby fish go through to avoid being caught before they have grown to adulthood and have had babies themselves. Tell the story!
3. Make suggestions as to what can be done to protect baby fish.

Give the name, place and country of your school or youth group, indicate the age and how many boys and girls make up the class / group. Give the e-mail and a snail-mail address of the coach, team leader or teacher and send your proposals to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by 15 November 2012.

By the deadline we have received proposals from 10 groups or schools in five countries involving more than 300 kids and youngsters.

The jury examined them all, including the many pictures showing the youth groups at work as they worked on the problems of overfishing, pollution and other unsustainable practices that threaten the functioning of coastal and marine ecosystems in conjunction with the Mundus maris contest. The jury voted to issue hororary certificates to all young participants, their teachers or coaches and to their schools or other organising institutions. It also pledged books, colour pencils and other tokens for the participatants and/or their schools. It recognises specifically the articulate and creative entry of the Mundus maris Club of the CEM of Cayar, Senegal as the most convincing for naming the Mundus maris mascots and telling their story.

You can see short presentations of all entries on the following pages and will learn, why the mascots are now called Samba (babyfish boy) and Kumba (babyfish girl) following the proposal of the kids in Cayar.

Thanks and congratulations to all participants. And keep an eye on Samba and Kumba - you'll see more of them in a video-animation in the near future. And keep their stories coming - you might be inspiring future animations with the two mascots. You can contact us any time with your suggestions at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and we'll be highly appreciative of the continued cooperation.