Catfish beaches itself to gobble up pigeons

Cory Doctorow 6:51 am Sun Dec 9, 2012

The above video showing a freshwater catfish stalking pigeons and beaching itself in order to gobble them up accompanies "'Freshwater Killer Whales': Beaching Behavior of an Alien Fish to Hunt Land Birds," a paper in PLOSOne written by a group of French researchers who recorded the images on an island in France's Tarn river. The researchers hypothesize that the pigeons aren't adapted to watch for predators from below, and that the catfish are able to sense the pigeons' presence by the aquatic vibrations made by their drinking.

“Freshwater Killer Whales”: Beaching Behavior of an Alien Fish to Hunt Land Birds

(via As it Happens)

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