Some catfish thrust their bodies from the shallow banks onto land where they capture pigeons and drag them back into the water and swallow them. Some dolphins and killer whales can do it. But who knows catfish can do it too!
It reminds me of crocodile hunting deer.
Among a total of 45 beaching behaviors observed and filmed, 28% were successful in bird capture. Stable isotope analyses (δ13C and δ15N) of predators and their putative prey revealed a highly variable dietary contribution of land birds among individuals. Since this extreme behavior has not been reported in the native range of the species, our results suggest that some individuals in introduced predator populations may adapt their behavior to forage on novel prey in new environments, leading to behavioral and trophic specialization to actively cross the water-land interface.
What’s next? These pigeon hunting catfish will eventually spend more time on land than in water with pectoral fins adapted for hopping on land and get their food in the air! Then they will evolve into the tetrapod!
Amazing!
Catfish are great. Unfortunately they are usually very shy. I once got lucky and saw a few of them on a dive. It is really amazing how large they can get.
What’s interesting too is that local fishermen noticed the behavior first, and brought it to the attention of biologists. So there’s also in this story an example of citizen participation in science!! Fascinating.