24 January 2014
[Humor]
Africa’s Tigerfish was caught jumping out of the water . . . into the air .
. . catching a bird . . .
in flight . . . and taking it
home
for dinner.
[
video]
tigerfish
dining alfresco
It’s bad enough that sea creatures can attack us when we go into the
water. About 40 years ago, the film,
Jaws, scared movie-goers to
the point that people stopped going to beaches for fear of being attacked by
sharks — but only if the swimmers went
in the water! The next film,
Jaws
II, had promotional trailers warning: “Just when you thought it was
safe to go back in the water.” But at least you were
safe on
dry
land.
Poster: Jaws Film:
Jaws
Poster: Jaws
II
In 1975, the first in a series of
SNL sketches took away that last
safe place – dry land. The
Saturday Night Live writers
introduced the world to the “Land Shark” — a predator that could strike on land
or sea. In each sketch, a city-dweller would hear a knock at the
door and a voice would call out, “telegram,” “plumber,” etc. When the
door was opened, in plunged the “Land Shark” (or a giant foam rubber version of
the “Land Shark”).
Saturday Night
Live/SNL
“
Land
Shark” [
image][
video]
Like a few other fictional villains, the “Land Shark” developed a real life
copycat, the “Land Catfish.” Introduced to France’s River Tarn, about 20 years
ago, a common species of catfish was starving as its food of
choice,
crayfish, decreased in numbers. Most species would have the good graces
to continue to starve and die out. Not these catfish. Instead, they
made a different
choice and “learned” to do something no member of
their species has ever done before – catch and eat land animals.
Hovering in the water, near flocks of pigeons, these catfish wait for one of
the birds to get “too close” to the water. Then, these (sometimes,
four-foot long) cats jump out of the water, grab a pigeon and take it home for
dinner.
Fisherman, who saw the Land Catfish at work, found it – really creepy.
And, so do I. Underwater creatures intentionally jumping out of the water
to grab some land animal, drag it back into the water, and eat it? I’ve
seen stuff like this in old horror movies!
“Catfish grabs pigeon” [
video]
Catfish
hunt pigeons in France
Oh, Dear God No:
Here Are Some Catfish Hunting And Eating Pigeons
Study of these Land Catfish revealed another upsetting fact. Those
catfish that learned to hunt “land prey” developed a taste for land
animals. These fish stopped eating their usual crayfish and started
eating almost nothing but land animals. Being a land animal,
myself, I don’t find any of this comforting . . . at all!
Also, in the last year, we found out about another sea creature
that
just won’t stay in the sea. A few months ago, an octopus was caught
crawling out of the ocean and leisurely shopping for snacks on a California
beach. But, unlike the catfish, the octopus didn’t suddenly “choose” to
start hunting on land in the last week or so.
Octopus Walks on Land
at Fitzgerald Marine Reserve
Octopus
crawls out of water and walks on dry land
Octopus experts say that octopuses have always done this. These
creatures jump out of the water onto land all the time. (I don’t know that
I wanted to know that.) The only thing that was unusual was that the
octopus starring in the video was shopping on the beach
during the day.
Usually, octopuses crawl out of the sea and go trolling for a meal on land —
in
the dark of night. Well, that’s the end of my evening strolls on the
beach! But, it gets worse. Octopuses even jump onto crab-fishing
boats, climb into barrels of crabs (their favorite food), and pig-out.
Land-Walking
Octopus Explained
Just when you thought it was safe to go
near the water.
But just as this “year of discovery” of the real Land Sharks was ending,
another safe place was invaded by predator fish.
Welcome the “Air Shark.”
A Tigerfish was caught on video jumping out of the water . . . into the air
. . . and catching birds
in flight. The Tiger is just the sort
of fish you don’t want jumping out of the water and catching passing . . .
animals. Who knows what else it might catch when it’s up there —
water-skiers, parasailers, . . . small aircraft?
Fish Can Catch and Eat
Flying Birds [African Tigerfish]
Called the “African piranha” the Tigerfish has no winning smile, but it sure
has a toothy grin. [
image]
Hoping for some comfort, I looked up the tigerfish on Wikipedia. After
saying that game fisherman call these fish “the African piranhas,” the entry
goes on, reassuringly, to say that the two fish aren’t so much alike because
the tigerfish and piranha are two different species. (I sigh with
relief.)
But, then, the entry goes on to say that tigerfish and piranhas do have just
a few things in common. Both have “interlocking, razor-sharp
teeth”, “are … extremely aggressive … predators”, and “often hunt in
groups.” Oh, don’t let me forget to mention that each member of the
tigerfish “pack” weighs about 110 pounds. And another thing, tigerfish
have been known to attack humans.
Really makes you want to book that ski vacation at Africa’s Lake
Malawi, doesn’t it?
Tigerfish
Unlike the Land Catfish, the “Air Shark”/Tigerfish didn’t just
choose
to start hunting flying birds — yesterday. There have been stories of
this fish jumping out the water and grabbing birds in flight since the
1940’s. But, like the octopus’s strolls on the beach, the flight of the
tigerfish was never caught on video until this year.
Nico Smit, director of the Unit for Environmental Sciences and Management at
North-West University in Potchefstroom, South Africa, was part of the team that
caught the “Air Shark” catching a quick bite. He said that the whole
“event,” (meal for the fish, “big sleep” for the bird) happens so fast that it
took a while before the researchers were sure what they were seeing.
It didn’t just happen fast. It happened
often. They saw
20 “catches” the first day and about 300 during the next two weeks. The
“event” was caught on video for the first time by team member Francois
Jacobs. The team’s findings were published in the
Journal of Fish Biology and
Nature.com.
Tigerfish
catches bird video shocks scientists worldwide
National
Geographic
With this report, yet another element of our environment, the air, is
threatened by killer fish. I can hear someone say, “Yeah, but unless
you’re a bird flying over a lake in Africa you’re safe.” Well, 20 years
ago, French pigeons thought they were safe from catfish attacks on the shore of
the River Tarn. Then, one fine day, a catfish just “chose” to become a
Land Catfish and start jumping out of the water, onto land, to grab and eat the
nearest animal. You wouldn’t have wanted to be the next unlucky pigeon
that went to get a drink of water from the river!
This “choosing” thing worries me. Now, animals just “choose” to eat
completely different things than they’ve been eating for the last few thousand
years. Just a couple of weeks after I heard about the Land Catfish, I
visited an evening holiday light display at the Missouri Botanical
Garden. In the freezing cold, I walked along the dark paths admiring the
beautiful lights. I thought back to the Garden, in the summer, with giant
koi fish in the large pond
surrounded by the Japanese Garden. You can feed these large fish as they
gather around the bridges and shoreline to gobble up food pellets.
Gee, I thought, those fish must have rough time under the frozen ice.
They go for months with little food. I bet they get really hungry.
Looking out into the pitch blackness a few yards off the path, I wondered how
close I was to the water. No, I reassured myself. I’m
safe. After all . . . koi fish couldn’t be dangerous. These fish
look like giant goldfish. The only difference is some have those
whisker-looking things. You know, . . . like . . .
catfish!?
Those clever, predatory, and hungry river-beasts that are scarfing down pigeons
in France!
I stuck to the paths farthest from the water.
Missouri
Botanical Garden
Koi Fish [
image]
I didn’t like this new trend toward “choice” with fish deciding to leave the
water and eat anything that happened by. But I didn’t think it was a too
big a problem until I stumbled across a story about another sea animal.
One that jumps out of the water regularly and sails through the air.
Everyone says this creature just jumps out of the water and dives back into the
water without “eating an in-flight meal.” But, now, I know that sea creatures can
just “choose” to change their feeding habits any time.
Jun Yamamoto of Hokkaido University and his team were tracking squid in the
ocean east of Tokyo when 20 of these ten-legged creatures flew out of the water
for a distance of about 30 meters. They like to fly. They spread
out their fins and legs like wings to stay in the air. They’ve even been
seen flapping their fins to stay in the air a little longer!
Same story, different day – there were rumors about flying squid for years,
but this was the first time they’ve been caught on film. Yamamoto said,
“[W]e should no longer consider squid as things that live only in the water.”
[!]
Welcome the Air Squid.
Flying
Squid [image] [
video]
Squids
‘can fly 100 feet through the air’
Everyone’s worried about the safety
of the flying squid.
Birds might eat
them while they’re flying through the air.
Sure,
but what happens
to the birds when the flying squid decide they’re
hungry? “Oh, but these flying squid don’t eat birds or . . . (glup)
. . . water-skiers.” Of course, not.
Not yet.
Not until, like the French Land Catfish, they “choose” to start eating birds,
people, . . . small aerial drones. Who knows?
Some will say, “But only small squid fly.” “It’s not like the flying
squid were those
giant
12 foot long, 330 pound squid that live deep in the ocean.”
Correction:
Just because they’ve never been caught on video, doesn’t mean giant squid don’t
fly. And, even if they’ve never flown before, what make you so sure they
won’t
choose to fly in the future. Suppose they do.
And suppose they
choose to flap their fins so fast that they start
flying like birds. That’s all we need — giant flying squid trolling the
air above the water like a bunch a pterodactyls.
First, there was
Jaws with its great white shark.
Don’t go
in the water!
Then, the Land Shark “inspired” imitators — the Land Catfish and Land
Octopus.
Don’t go
near the water!
Finally, the Tigerfish becomes the “Air Shark.”
Don’t fly
above the water!
The End?
Mark Grossmann of Hazelwood, Missouri & Belleville,
Illinois