Fish Hunts Pigeons
Pigeons are by far the most successful urban bird
here, and I will be in the south of France. The pigeons come to the river to bathe.
They need to preen their flight feathers, clean off the city dust
and cool themselves down. But death lies in wait a predator that has taken advantage of the very thing that has led to the pigeons success.
Their lack of fear. As the pigeons
bathed oil from their plumage flows downstream and is detected
in a monstrous wells catfish introduced here just 40 years ago.
They have proliferated, virtually exterminated the local fish stocks,
and they've now developed a taste for pigeon. That eyesight is poor, so they use their bubbles to sense the movements of their victims. This is a radical new hunting strategy for what is normally a bottom dwelling fish.
After a thousand years of living in this city,
pigeons are now having to learn to avoid a fish.
Video Here
[In certain parts of the world, particularly in urban areas where pigeons are abundant, there exists an extraordinary predator known as the "pike cichlid" (Crenicichla frenata), also sometimes called the "pigeon blood cichlid" due to its unique hunting behavior. This fish, native to South America, has adapted in an unexpected way to its environment, preying on unsuspecting pigeons that venture too close to the water's edge.
The pike cichlid possesses a remarkable ability to leap out of the water with surprising speed and accuracy, snatching pigeons from the air with its powerful jaws. Its streamlined body and sharp teeth make it a formidable predator, capable of striking with lightning-fast precision.
The hunting technique of the pike cichlid involves lying in wait near the water's surface, camouflaged among aquatic vegetation or rocks. When a pigeon comes within striking distance, the fish springs into action, launching itself out of the water with a sudden burst of energy.
With jaws agape, the pike cichlid seizes its avian prey mid-flight, dragging it beneath the surface to consume at its leisure. This astonishing behavior has been documented by researchers and has earned the pike cichlid a reputation as one of the most unusual predators in the animal kingdom.
While the image of a fish hunting pigeons may seem surreal, it serves as a reminder of the incredible diversity of life on our planet and the ingenious ways in which organisms adapt to their surroundings in order to survive.]