I'm pretty sure it's a catholic thing, at least originally. I've seen versions that have a little cross where the fish's eye is, too, which is probably some kind of differentiation. I guess I don't consider myself an expert in their taxonomy, but I've seen physical specimens of a fish, a fish with a cross, the FSM, ALiens (in a flying saucer shape), and possibly some others as well. But the fish is the one that is most common, thus my reference.
Here's a few references for the symbolism that I turned up. It's a rather old Christian symbol.
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Date: 2008-11-12 04:18 pm (UTC)Here's a few references for the symbolism that I turned up. It's a rather old Christian symbol.
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06083a.htm
http://forums.catholic.com/showthread.php?t=83076 (Talks about the ICTHUS acromyn -> "I believe that in the Greek alphabet the first letters for "Jesus Christ, God's Son, Savior" are ICTHUS")
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ichthys
http://hubpages.com/hub/catholic-symbols (Search down the page for "the fish")