Soviet science and Western commerce spawn electronic fish.

The Co Down port of Ardglass made history this week when it hosted the first official electronic fish auction on this island.

The result is a record that could have been, in lesser hands, two distinct and uneasy halves, neither electronic fish nor fowl.

Information columns of jet-black glass formed a picket line around the outside, knots of fluorescent icons twirling around them like electronic fish.

The program, used to create and display beautifully rendered and animated electronic fish, is slated for release by Maxis in the US this spring.

It was delisted as a sea trout fishery only to miraculously recover to its full former glory with the introduction of an electronic fish counter!