Catfish learning to hunt pigeons on land

Yahoo ^ | 07 Dec 2012 | Eric Pfeiffer

[Theoria]

In an unusual development that researchers are calling evidence of adaptive behavior, some catfish have taken to jumping on land to hunt live pigeons.

Discover Magazine's Ed Yong writes, "These particular catfish have taken to lunging out of the water, grabbing a pigeon, and then wriggling back into the water to swallow their prey. In the process, they temporarily strand themselves on land for a few seconds."

Researchers captured video of the European catfish, which reside in the River Tarn in southwestern France. In the footage, several of the fish, which range in length from 3 to nearly 5 feet, are seen thrusting their bodies from the shallow banks onto land where they capture pigeons and drag them back into the water.

Some dolphins and killer whales have exhibited similar behavior, though both are mammals and better equipped to survive on land for brief periods of time.

Still, Julien Cucherousset from Paul Sabatier University in Toulouse has taken to describing the catfish as "freshwater killer whales."

The study results were published in the scientific journal Plos One. The study's abstract notes:

"Among a total of 45 beaching behaviors observed and filmed, 28% were successful in bird capture. 

A European catfish moves in to attack a group of pigeons.

[Clint N. Suhks]

[I Shall Endure]

Maybe it’s because we haven’t been looking. Even after Darwin, we don’t look because we assume the time spans are vast the changes gradual. Perhaps both young earth creationists and Darwinists are right: the earth is only six thousand years old ... but evolution is true (and speedy!)
/s

[catfish1957]

Say what?????

[Theoria]

Heh.

A man's gotta eat.

[visualops]

ha I actually had his card when I was a kid. thanks to bubble gum lol

[JouleZ]

Survival out of water for short periods is no problem for one of these whiskered eating machines.

*******

So true but they can survive even longer if properly acclimated. When I was a kid a family friend told me about finding a catfish flopping around in an almost dry ditch once the rain waters receded...

He said each day he removed a spoonful of water from the puddle and the fish did fine. He fed it dry dog food to keep it nourished and one day the fish was able to survive without any water at all except just what he needed to drink.

Soon after the catfish grew strong and started following my friend around his property just like a pet. Sometimes the catfish got a brief dunking in a horse tank for a treat but he always came to the surface quickly and gulping for air, wanting out.

This friendship went on for about a year, as I recall. Things were good until the next seasonal rains hit. Torrents of rain. Sheets of water. Ditches turned to streams. Streams turned into rivers. Deluge of moisture with no end.

Finally, it stopped. The sun came out and dried the land. My friend went searching for his pet, the catfish. He found him in the same ditch..in a small puddle of water but his friend had sadly drowned.

[NoCmpromiz]

Ah... Snapper Soup fixins’ getting fatted up I see...

[Tax-chick]

Okay, I’m impressed.

[WVKayaker]

[WVKayaker]

[adorno]

So, is your whole post supposed to be sarcasm, or it there anything in it that you wish to propose as something that you actually believe?

Maybe it’s because we haven’t been looking.

That sentence alone has to be sarcasm, since, evolutionist have been looking for the better part of two centuries for evidence of an actual jump from one species to another. And all of the looking has proved fruitless (or vegetableless?).

[SunkenCiv]

Go, Catfish!

Thanks Theoria.

[SunkenCiv]

Must be global warming. /s