sciencetech-blog

comments

These are the amazing scenes as a catfish manages to scale the wall of a cave to lick food from its roof. 

Scientists filmed the catfish performing the seemingly impossible task inside a cave near Tena in the Napo District of Ecuador.

It is the first time the behaviour has ever been captured on camera.  

Catfish climbs several metres of vertical flowstone in Ecuador

Researchers found the armoured catfish climbing up an almost vertical wall in an Ecuadorian cave 

Scientists believe that the fish had clambered up the wall in an effort to feed on algae on the roof

The researchers were trying to document the different types of wildlife in the cave complex when they were stunned to see several catfish trying to scale a waterfall, climbing up a near vertical slope.

According to a paper in Subterranean Biology, this is the first time catfish have been filmed climbing in a cave complex. 

'As part of a mapping and preliminary flora and fauna inventory of hypogean life in caves, developed in Cretaceous limestones in the sub-andean zone of Ecuador, we were able to observe a number of catfish climbing a steep flowstone waterfall in the dark zone of a cave,' the team wrote. 

The scientists identified the climbing fish as a species of armoured catfish called Loricariidae, which are are normally found in some parts of the Amazon and Ecaudor and Peru.

The fish have sucker-mouths which they use to cling onto rocks and trees in fast-flowing water. 

But this was the first time scientist observed this species of fish adapting its behaviour and climbing up a wall.  

Scientist Geoff Hoese, who led the study, told the BBC: 'It's not too surprising to find another catfish that climbs rocks. What is surprising is the environment that they are doing it in.

Scientists now want to return to the cave in order to further study the fish's unusual behaviour 

'This is a significant observation that merits investigation into why they are there

'There isn't enough data at this point to do more than speculate, but it's nice to think that we may be watching a small but significant evolutionary step as a species moves from one niche to another.' 

Mr Hoese said he needs to return to the region to determine whether these fish have simply got lost, of have they evolved to deal with a new situation.

Scientists believe that this is the first time an armoured catfish had been observed climbing in a cave