It is interesting that the people who followed Jared and his brother "did also prepare a vessel in which they did carry with them the fish of the waters" (Ether 2:2). According to Randall Spackman, more than fifty different types of fish were known to Mesopotamian fishermen, but it is not known how many freshwater varieties the Jaredites were able to carry in their specially constructed, watertight containers. [Randall P. Spackman, The Jaredite Journey to America, p. 30, unpublished]
Note* Considering the fact that water weighs approximately eight pounds per gallon, some form of heavy transport would have been required--Nibley speaks of the cultural heritage of large wagons for land transport. [Alan C. Miner, Personal Notes]
Ether 2:2 They did carry with them ([Illustration]): Rock carving of a wagon from Syunik Region, Western Armenia, 2nd Millennium B.C. [Randall P. Spackman, The Jaredite Journey to America, p. 31, unpublished]
“They Did Also Prepare a Vessel in Which They Did Carry with Them the Fish of the Waters”
According to John Heinerman, fishing activity and a thriving fishing industry were already in place and served as a major source of Sumer's food supply, especially during construction of the Great Tower on the plains of Shinar. However, it is interesting that the world's first glass fish aquarium was built in Sumer by some unidentified individual, who, according to historian Samuel Noah Kramer, "for one reason or another was an ardent lover of fish." A single cuneiform clay tablet, appropriately called by archaeologists the "Home of the Fish" document, "begins with a reassuring announcement that the speaker has built a house for the fish, large, spacious, and unapproachable, and provided it with fine food and drink, especially beer and sweet cookies." The speaker then urges his friends and acquaintances to join him in his "house of fish" and watch various live specimens swim around, while enjoying the food, snacks, and free beer and wine provided for that occasion.
The Book of Mormon tells of a similar portable aquarium being constructed by the Jaredites at the time they were told to abandon their residences near "the great tower at the time the Lord confounded the language of the people" (Ether 1:33) and venture forth into the wilderness under the guiding influence of God. "And they did also prepare a vessel, in which they did carry with them the fish of the waters" (Ether 2:2). The ancient "Home of the Fish" tablet mentions sixteen different fish, only a few of which can be described with some reasonable degree of certainty--the carp, the sturgeon, the catfish, and the trout. [John Heinerman, Hidden Treasures of Ancient American Cultures, Springville: Cedar Fort, Incorporated, 2001, pp. 106-107]