Many people are now familiar with the beach-breaching killer whales of Patagonia, but French researchers have filmed something similar, but with catfish and pigeons. It’s surprising, but impressive to watch.
Study subjects were Wels catfish (Silurus glanis), an invasive or non-native species, and their peculiar behavior is an example of an introduced species adapting to a new environment in order to survive. Native catfish in the river did not exhibit beaching behavior as a prey strategy.
“Since this extreme behavior has not been reported in the native range of the species, our results suggest that some individuals in introduced predator populations may adapt their behavior to forage on novel prey in new environments, leading to behavioral and trophic specialization to actively cross the water-land interface,” the study states.
The sample video here includes two successful catfish kills and two misses.