Jump to content
Join the Unexplained Mysteries community today! It's free and setting up an account only takes a moment.
- Sign In or Create Account -

Like A Fish out of Water


frogfish

Recommended Posts

African fish leaps for land bugs

By Rebecca Morelle

BBC News science reporter

Sam Van Wassenbergh, University of Antwerp

Scientists have described a fish that can hunt and catch its prey on land.

The eel catfish, Channallabes apus, is found in the muddy swamps of the tropics of western Africa.

The 30-40cm-long (12-16in) fish is able to propel itself out of the water and bend its head downwards to capture insects in its jaws.

The Belgian researchers, writing in the journal Nature, hope this discovery will help to explain how fish moved from sea to land millions of years ago.

Beetle eater

With a small head and a long, flexible body, C. apus has an eel-like appearance.

The fish's diet provided the scientists with the first clue to its remarkable behaviour - it mainly eats beetles which are found on land.

After an expedition to study the fish in its swampy habitat in Gabon, Africa, the team brought some of the animals back to Belgium for further research.

They placed the fish in a specially designed aquarium with both wet and muddy areas, mimicking C. apus's natural environment.

"We pointed high-speed video cameras towards the place where we had left the prey and waited until the fish was hungry enough to leave the water and catch it," explained Sam Van Wassenbergh, an author on the Nature paper and a biologist from the University of Antwerp, Belgium.

"The first time we saw it, we were amazed - it was really spectacular."

The fish captures its prey by propelling itself onto the shore, raising the front part of its body and bending its head downwards over the insect.

Usually, the fish uses suction to feed underwater; but because air is much less dense than water, the fish needs to employ a new strategy to catch its food.

"The way it positions its head prevents the prey from being pushed away," said Mr Van Wassenbergh.

"This way it can place its jaws over the prey; and when it is strongly between the jaws, the fish will return to the water where it can further ingest the insect."

C. apus has a specially adapted spine which gives it extra flexibility, allowing it to tilt its head. The fish uses the rest of its long body to maintain stability while it is out of the water.

From sea to land

The best studied fish that feeds on land is the mudskipper. It feeds using a similar method to the catfish, but can use its pectoral fins to hop onto land and to lift and lower its head.

The researchers hope the discovery of another species of land-going fish will help shed light on how sea creatures evolved into land-living tetrapods during the Devonian Period, about 400 million years ago.

They say C. apus bears similarities to fossils found from this period, including the recently described Tiktaalik rosea.

This creature, found in Arctic Canada, may be a "missing link" between sea and land-living animals.

"[T. rosea] had a neck that appears to be quite mobile, and strong fins. If you ask me if it could feed terrestrially in a similar way to catfish or mudskippers - I would say it probably could," said Mr Van Wassenbergh.

Link to article

Catfish hunt VIDEO

*video has short Nat'l Geographic commercial*

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 
  • Replies 7
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • frogfish

    4

  • Psychokinesis

    2

  • Ravinar

    1

  • Pax Unum

    1

Top Posters In This Topic

Posted Images

very interesting! :tu:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What a interesting creature indeed :yes: I wasn't surprised by the fact that it comes onto land, but the fact that it hunts on land also!

Reminds me of the arrowana of the Amazon.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

found a pic of it for you guys.

post-14517-1145085444.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The video shows how they hunt :yes: It is amazing!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Amazing how it got that...Is it an evolutionary leftover, or just ingenuity?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.