Best Mp3 Player: October 2012

Monday 29 October 2012

Airbreathing Catfish

The walking catfish is a species of freshwater air-breathing catfish found primarily in Southeast Asia. It is named for its ability to "walk" across dry land, in order to find food or suitable living environments. Actually they slither more like snakes, but they sure do get around. The walking catfish was imported to Florida, reportedly from Thailand, in the early 1960s for the aquarium trade. Apparently a huge amount of these fish escaped from time to time, either from a fish farm or from trucks transporting the fish. Some fish in Florida, were purposeful released, by fish farmers in the Tampa Bay area, after the state banned the importation and possession of walking catfish. In Florida, walking catfish are known to have invaded aquaculture farms, entering ponds where these predators prey on fish stocks. In response, fish farmers have had to erect fences to protect ponds. Authorities have also created laws that ban possession of walking catfish. Like illegal immigrants they seem to have crossed over boarders and have even been spotted occasionally in the Midwest. Have you ever seen a walking catfish? Do you like to eat catfish? Not me! I am just praying that if I come across one of these fish it will not have learned how to run.

Airbreathing Catfish

Alaska Blackfish

The Alaska blackfish looks like an overweight bulldog with fins. A severe underbite imparts a serious frown on this reclusive throwback to the dark ages. It would not be difficult to picture the little blackfish as a prime player in the evolutionary segment of Disney’s Fantasia, attempting to drag itself out of the primordial soup, but not quite succeeding. If the blackfish at one time really did attempt to exit the confines of the murky depths of our lakes, it did not fail its task completely. The bottom-dwelling Alaska blackfish is one of the few species of fish in the world that are able to breathe air using a modified esophagus. This trait comes in handy for the blackfish that inhabit tundra pools and seasonal ponds which, during times of low precipitation, can morph into muck puddles. As long as the blackfish can wriggle down into that anoxic, smelly sludge and keep its skin from drying out, it can gulp air until the next rain fills its pond and oxygenates its water.

Alaska Blackfish

Airsac Catfish

The peculiar looking airsac catfish, known from only a few specimens , is an air-breathing, freshwater fish. A long air sac that extends back from the gill chamber acts like a lung and enables the catfish to breathe air . It has a long body that narrows to a pointed head, and four pairs of barbels (fleshy projections) protrude from around the mouth. The airsac catfish has a short fin on its back, a long fin on the rear underside of the body, and a rounded tail fin. Despite their tiny size, airsac catfish are dreaded by local fisherman due to the sharp poisonous spine in each pectoral fin that can inflict a painful sting on any person wading in its territory.

Airsac Catfish

Saturday 27 October 2012

Aholehole

Aholehole, any of several species of fishes constituting the family Kuhliidae (order Perciformes). Various members of the genus Kuhlia inhabit marine or fresh waters in the Indo-Pacific region, whereas representatives of the other two genera are restricted to freshwater or brackish habitats of Australia. Superficially the aholeholes resemble the freshwater sunfishes (family Centrarchidae). The Hawaiian aholehole (Kuhlia sandvicensis) is restricted to coastal waters throughout the Hawaiian Islands. Its maximum length is about 30 cm (12 inches). Some species in the family reach lengths of 45 cm (18 inches).

Aholehole