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African Catfish Hunts On Land
Dave Knott writes "The journal Nature will be publishing a report on an African catfish that hunts its prey on land. The fish wriggles out of the swamps to catch land-based prey. From the article: 'The eel catfish, Channallabes apus, catches unsuspecting victims by arching upwards and descending upon prey, trapping an insect against the ground before sucking it up. The same trick may have been used by the very first vertebrates to venture onto land, the researchers speculate.' There is a video of the fish in action."
I predict that, as Africa industrializes, the level of pollution will increase & these catfish will mutate into giant man-eating catfish.
Also, there will be no worshiping of Catfish Over Lords. They cannot understand you. Prostrating yourself beneath them will merely make their task easier.
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
Did Slashdot just report on a topic in evolutionary biology without using the phrase "missing link" to describe a theorised stage in development? Isn't there a rule against this or something?
Karma: Chameleon (comes and goes)
Direct link to video:
Link
NewslilySocial News. No lolcats allowed.
That sounds like one of my friend's ex-girlfriends....
Well, I'll be a fish's uncle
Table-ized A.I.
Someone needs to add this to the eel catfish article on Wikipedia. It's a little lacking.
bug.gd: error search engine. Humanity working together to solve all errors.
Wait... No it's not, IE is broken... the link just crashes my IE... :P
Get FireFOX
Of course fish can jump out of water. How else could they get into Noah's Ark?
Table-ized A.I.
Fish hunting on land and mammals turning into ocean swimmers? The world is going mad, I'll tell ya, mad!
Table-ized A.I.
This fish hunts land-borne insects... like the archer fish. But it leaves the water... like the mudskipper. And TFA doesn't even indicate that it breathes air, like the lungfish (or the mudskipper).
Somebody clarify how this is news.
What if I do the same thing, and I do get different results?
What with the world flooding and all, they'd have a clear enough route to the boat. The tricky part would be getting back down off Mount Ararat. As far as those creatures of the sea go, you just try to explain to the dolphins that you've saved them from the perils of the flooding sea by landing them on top of a mountain in the middle of the desert. See how they like them apples.
Karma: Chameleon (comes and goes)
wtf is an eel catfish? the result of an orgy between eels, cats and fish?
I'll be impressed when an orgasm starts hunting inside volcanoes. Colonize the mantle today!
Now that's the way to go fishing. Sit by the water and the fish come to you!
It kinda looks like a Goa'uld
"I would say that 99 per cent of what my father has written about his own life is false." - L. Ron Hubbard Jr.
in the coffin of intelligent design. Jesus/Allah/Budda (I love you all) this idiocy dies here.
I, for one, welcome our new African Catfish overlords!
Let the commencement BEGINULATE!
Given a lot of time, how do fish start to crawl out of the water just because they catch insects this way?
Nat.Geo.4 12_060412_catfish_video.html
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/04/0
Open QuickTime (the program)
Edit->Preferences->Browser->MIME Types
Make sure QuickTime is set as your player for your basic formats (a new Flash installation can overwrite these defaults.) This should prevent you from needing to open IE to view QuickTime videos (I've had this problem quite a few times myself.)
I don't need this, I've got a Master's Degree in folklore and mythology!
Try this (mplayer barfs unless you download it first)
movie
Not only is this video evidence that this experiment was Intelligently Designed, but in fact it proves the IMHO more important point that God Has A Tapping Finger. Take that Richard Dawkins, God Actually Captured On Video!
Can't you all see? These are not mere fish, these are THE DEEP ONES!
shame on you slashdot. satan deposits funny bones in rocks and creates demonic catfish to lead you astray of the lord. you people consider yourselves so smart, and yet you fall so easily for satan's tricks
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Here's your missing link.
I have no problem with your religion until you decide it's reason to deprive others of the truth.
News! Birds dive into water to catch their prey!
"Free thought" and "unbiased research" are only allowed to be used to get people to stop believing in a deity. You can't ask the objectivity on the other side.
This african fish is no match for the cleverest species of them all...
The Landshark!!!
When information is power, privacy is freedom.
It's easy to ask for objectivity from Christians and others who happen to believe in God, and then to have as much bias as your accuse your opponent of having. People accuse Christians of being biased in their rejection of evolution. Their asked to open their mind. Where is the open mindedness on the side of evolutionists? Evolutionists see their theory as the only allowable one in the game. The only one allowed to be considered by science. Let's suppose that it's true that evolution is the best explanation we have for the origin of life. Ok, great. Now, what's the second best explanation? It seems that no one wants to admit that there is a "second best" explanation. What's the fun in that? What good does it do to say you've won the race when no one else is playing?
In Southeast Asia, catfish that comes out of the water is not really surprising. For example, the "Walking Catfish" can "walk" from pond to pond in search of better living conditions.
w00t
This was recently in the news; The scientist on the study noted the amazing thing was that the fish can eat prey exactly in the way they do underwater by "sucking it in" which doesn't allow air to come in their mouths. It would be considered a breakthrough as it proved there isn't a long evolutionary progress required to be able to feed on land as previously assumed.
I think we can keep recursing like this until someone returns 1
with a mantle orgasm the earth is really going to move
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Phone backup, contact management
Is it coincidence that this is an eel catfish?
The similarity between this fish and the FSM's Noodly Appendage should be enough evidence for ANYONE to see that the FSM is the one true creator.
RAmen
Ramen
Why is it "the tropical swamps of Africa", rather than an idea about the countries involved?
Africa is a huge place, The Worlds second largest and second-most populous continent after Asia with a hugely diverse population in 61 countries and territories.
My point is if you hear about animals found in "tropical swamps of" Asia, or North or South America you would normally hear the actual country or even state within the country it was found in otherwise you have no idea what sort of environment to imagine.
From "tropical swamps" we can only derive that it's one of the countries in Sub-Saharan africa that fall in the tropics, and that's the biggest, most diverse part and it's not one big swamp!
I could forgive them if these fish eel things are swimming all over sub saharan africa but then I would have to say what the hell have they been doing all this time?
If they are everywhere then I've probably eaten a few of these myself. Mmmm.
Ok, apparently this fish has eaten a DOZEN dogs over the years: http://user.bahnhof.se/~wizard/GUSTeng03/artiklar_ moenchengladbach.html
So this was not just a single-dachshund type of fish. No this cat had a taste for dogs.
So either we should be burning the Dover school board at the stake for Manichaenism or for denying the truthfulness of God. A Catch-22 as good as the one Novell has used to entangle SCO.
I never thought I would be living in the days when it's the Catholic Church that asserts that the Big Bang theory and evolution by natural selection are part of God's great plan, and the Protestant descendants of the Protestants who emigrated to avoid persecution by backward Catholics have become the reactionaries. Jay Gould must be spinning in his grave so fast it's distorting space time.
Pining for the fjords
Its a goa'uld symbiote. Watch out for glowing eyes and egyptian gods!
Clearly this is not a helpful example to help understand the first creatures to leave the water for the land since there would have been nothing on the land for them to "arch up and pin down" in the first place. Still and interesting behaviour but it is slightly "cart before horse" in term os anything particularly probabtive.
"The first thing to do when you find yourself in a hole is stop digging."
Do you really mean that the second best explanation is God did it((TM)). Even "the species have always been here" makes less assumptions, predicts as little and is therefore better than creationism.
There's no 'on' position on the Slacker switch!
And there was me thinking it was the butler.
"The White House is not an intelligence-gathering agency," -- Scott McClellan, Whitehouse spokesman.
Mod parent and GP up for links to freaky giant catfish that breathes, walks on land, and EATS PET DOGS!!!!
Procrastination -- because good things come to those who wait.
This is old news. Maybe you geeks don't come out enough :)
Then again - I do live in Africa and most of you not... You are missing soooo much.
Cheers
Need an ISP in South Africa?
We need to ensure that the god of the Jews is included in all references to the creationist ignorance. Buddah should be removed though.
In Soviet Russia fishes phish for YOU.
Huh?
Maybe I drastically misunderstand evolution, but it seems highly unlikely that the first fish-like-thing out of the water would have been hunting insects. Theoretically it wouldn't have been hunting ANYTHING, it would have been all alone on the land. Right? It could have tried to hunt, but it would have been awfully lonely and fruitless endeavour.
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RumorsDaily
Now, one of the theories as to why the sharks have been attacking people more often lately is because their usual feeding grounds have been fished out and so they're forced to come into more shallow water to find food. I could forsee an eventual evolutionary advantage for a shark that could employ this method of hunting. It could come up on the beach and scarf down some unsuspecting seals. Or sunbathers. I wonder if in the not so distant future, we might see a shark attack at a local 7/11. Really we'd have no one but ourselves to blame.
Giant land-hunting catfish (or sharks) is a creepy thought. You KNOW that one day we'll be on the menu.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
When I was growing up I saw catfish in a zoo pond climb completely out of the water and go as much as a foot to retrieve popcorn. Most catfish can leave the water to got after food. I think the unique thing about this catfish wasn't leaving the water but the way it pounched on the food. It would raise up and strike. They aren't fish but something as large as an orca will leave the water to go after food. I've seen medium sized sharks scramble half out of the water going after food. Catfish seem to be the record holders for actually completely leaving the water to search for food.
This isn't THE missing link between sea and land animals. But it is yet another example of a phenomenon you can see throughout the animal kingdom.
Critics of evolution point to so called "intermediate structures". That somehow anatomical features have no value in a state of evolution, therefore they could not be selected under Darwin's own models. They ignore the little thing called the natural world. If you look closely you can see fish that hold their "water" to crawl around on land and tree dwelling animals like squirrels and snakes that glide from their perches to the ground. There are primitive animals in the sea with basic photo-receptors and other rudimentary sensory apparatus. All intermediate forms are out there ready to be viewed.
One primitive forms of these anatomical structures appear, it is no stretch to see that enhanced versions provide the animal with a greater capability and hence natural selection.
-------- -------- Support Wesley Clark for president!!!
Might be interesting if a goldfish did it....
who fails the same litmus test as literal creationists. Evolution does not disprove creation, nor are the two incompatible. The fact that you make this same logical error as proponents of Intelligent Design is some pretty delicious irony.
Damn Dirty Catfish!
Cake or Death? Cake Please!
Otherwise, I had been posting this from 2000 feet under water.
hilarious
I am fucking terrified.
(eeles don't have a jaw)
I beg to differ. "Eeles" may not have jaws but EELS most certainly do. The moray in particular has a strong jaw lined with razor sharp teeth that is capable of removing limbs and appendages.
So now you know why my hovercraft remains full of eels.
What if the Hokey Pokey really is what it's all about?
Firstly the article should be specific. Africa is a CONTINENT and they should name the country of origin where this fish is from. I assume that slash dotters are not dumb and would have the intelligence to NOT generalize in broad terms ... As a regular slashdotter I would like to state that I AM FROM Africa, Nigeria specifically and furthermore I am Ijaw (ethnically) and lastly I have seen this fish a million times. People actually eat it (pepper soup), but it is bony and not very tasty (I have eaten it too). They are very very common. There is another catfish that has spines under its fins, this is regularly eaten as well.
... and they can even survive out of water for a bit. Usually about 30 fish are thrown in a bucket with a little water and they live for a few days ...
... the best way to classify these animals is to work with the Professors at the local Universities in these areas University of Port Harcourt and others ...
As I said this fish is common in the mangrove swamps of the Niger Delta. This and other types of catfish. Some of them in fact do creep on to the banks of the river
The most common land-fish is the mud-skipper. If you go to Port Harcout in Nigeria, you will see a lot of them.
I saw many animals whose scientific (Western) classification may be unknown
Boy, and all this time I thought Catfish Hunter was just a pitcher for the A's... *rimshot*