The curious case of the fish that hunt and eat birds

Astonishingly catfish have been observed catching and eating birds in the Tarn River in south-west France.

Catfish in south-west France have been spotted leaping from a river to snap up the unsuspecting birds, before wriggling back beneath the water to swallow them. The unusual behaviour - similar to the way some marine mammals beach themselves to snap up prey from the shore - has never been seen among catfish in their native range.

It has led researchers the University of Toulouse to dub them 'freshwater killer whales'. Between 1m and 1.5m long, European catfish are the largest freshwater fish on the continent and third largest in the world.

Researchers have no idea why they hunt the birds but speculate it could be because of declining prey

Daily Mail

Apparently researchers have watched the catfish (which can grow to be 1.5 m long) beach themselves 54 times attempting to catch birds and have been successful 28% of the time.

Feeding ground: Researchers spent five months watching the catfish from a bridge over a small gravel island over a stretch of the Tarn passing through the city centre of Albi, north-east of Toulouse

Pounce: The fish lunges from the water and snaps up the bird in its jaws

reply to post by ollncasino

Researchers have no idea why they hunt the birds but speculate it could be because of declining prey

I am gonna guess it's because they are catfish and will eat anything they can, they are scavangers and they would likely eat a man if they could.

Needless to say still interesting.

Grim

reply to post by ollncasino

Good catch. ( 'catch' , har har ) S&F

I wonder if an enterprising fisherman will start fishing for them by making a lure that looks like the birds and twitching it on the riverbank?

now i know why they are called catfish.

That is crazy to see! Reminds me of the archer fish that spits at it's prey to knock it into the water. Makes you wonder how they determined (granted they have any rational thinking capability) it would be a good idea to jump out of the water to attempt catching whatever happened to be on the shore?

Originally posted by KingBaron
now i know why they are called catfish.

Lol nice!

My dad knew a diver on the Columbia river, who was a prior navy diver, while inspecting one of the dams, he seen catfish that were large enough to swallow him while . Needless to say he quit after that dive.. Can't says I blame him lol

Grim

Originally posted by AGWskeptic

Originally posted by kdog1982
It wont be but a few thousand years or longer,they will grow legs.
Evolution repeats itself.

Having fished on rivers I know they can already stay alive longer than most gamefish.

It's damn near impossible to keep a walleye or a crappie alive on a stringer, but those catfish don't seem to care.


How long before the pigeons adapt and realize they are vulnerable to this?

The reason deer hunters go up into trees is because deer don't have natural predators in trees, but sooner or later you'd think they'd adapt.

Since the thread I was posting on was closed mid post,I put it on here.

Because the hunters I know bait the deer with corn and salt and sit up in the trees to observe until deer season comes around.
They are domesticated in a sense.

Originally posted by kdog1982

Originally posted by AGWskeptic

Originally posted by kdog1982
It wont be but a few thousand years or longer,they will grow legs.
Evolution repeats itself.

Having fished on rivers I know they can already stay alive longer than most gamefish.

It's damn near impossible to keep a walleye or a crappie alive on a stringer, but those catfish don't seem to care.


How long before the pigeons adapt and realize they are vulnerable to this?

The reason deer hunters go up into trees is because deer don't have natural predators in trees, but sooner or later you'd think they'd adapt.

Since the thread I was posting on was closed mid post,I put it on here.

Because the hunters I know bait the deer with corn and salt and sit up in the trees to observe until deer season comes around.
They are domesticated in a sense.

edit on 9-12-2012 by kdog1982 because: (no reason given)

I plugged "catfish pigeon" in the search engine before I posted mine, nothing came up.


And yes, some hunters bait, especially bear hunters.

Doesn't seem very sporting to me, I never use bait.

Wow, they really are aptly named. Cats after birds in the water and out. Those whiskers are the real deal. LOL.