Catfish filmed climbing cave wall in Ecuador

3:40am May 5, 2015

Catfish filmed climbing cave wall in Ecuador

- video at link -


Scientists have filmed a catfish performing the seemingly impossible feat of scaling the wall of a cave to lick food from its roof.

The scientists were trying to document the different types of wildlife in the cave complex, in Ecuador, when they were stunned to see several catfish trying to climb up a near vertical flowstone waterfall.

The scientists identified the fish as a species of armoured catfish called Loricariidae, BBC News reports.

The fish feed mainly on algae using their sucker-shaped mouths, which they use to cling onto rocks and trees in fast-flowing water.

According to a paper published in Subterranean Biology, this is the first time scientists have observed this species of fish climbing up a cave wall.

Read more at http://www.9news.com.au/world/2015/05/05/03/40/catfish-filmed-climbing-cave-walls-in-ecuador#C76qxLs7ILVKLMbv.99