Strange fish behavor

While diving in P3 last Sat my dive buddy and I noticed Catfish standing vertical on their tails on the bottom as though they were dead. The current was almost non existent in the system and leaves were floating motionless. So I am guessing the fish were playing dead waiting for something tasty to fall from the ceiling for them to eat??? Anyone else seen this before??

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Originally Posted by tomhauburn

While diving in P3 last Sat my dive buddy and I noticed Catfish standing vertical on their tails on the bottom as though they were dead.

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Yeah, I've seen this often, especially in P3. I don't think the fish are ill either.

Used to see this a lot in P1 just to the left of the sign before cave diving became so popular at Peacock. I think it is called restful wakefulness.

We need to get them to take a class, their silt technique is awful :-)

here's an interesting link on catfish behavior. it does not address the specific behavior you mention, but does suggest a plausible explanation.

catfish need a silt-free environment that is usually provided by current. they seek out places to sleep that is both out of strong current, but also with enough current to keep the silt from clogging their gills. or so I get from the article (see link below).

cave catfish, in low current, apparently need to go vertical to keep from sinking in the silt while sleeping. I suspect it's a cave adapted behavior (in rivers they normally hide behind rocks of certain size with eddy currents that keep the silt from their gills).

http://home.earthlink.net/~catfish_billy/id36.html

thanks to "catfish billy!"

-skip

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Originally Posted by FW

We need to get them to take a class, their silt technique is awful :-)

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Speaking of that I was in a system last week and it had these huge catfish that were silting out the floor. I guessing they were in the 5 lb range, Lucky for us it was a large tunnel system so it did not affect vis too much.
Tom

In Buford we have always noticed the brem lying on their sides sleeping around the upper 25 feet. Poke them and they wake up and swim away. I've never seen that before.




~G

That is odd. I have also noticed that after they come out of the deep fryer that they are unresponsive to all stimuli. Very tasty, but unresponsive.

Yes. Very tasty indeed.
This is obviously an example of poor bouyancy and trim techniques and in my opinion these Catfish have no business entering the Cave environment. I can only blame their instuctor.

so is it cave damage if the fin belongs to a catfish?