Interesting thing happened today. We took advantage of the warm weather, and did some long overdue log splitting. We heat almost exclusively with wood, so we need a good 4-5 cords a year. We usually tackle the chore as a family. I run the splitter, my wife keeps me stocked with logs, and the kids stack. Our raw wood pile is about 20 feet from our pond spillway. My wife flipped over a 24 inch log, and rolled it to me, and said," I just found a dead catfish". My son went over to look, and they both started yelling, "It's alive!" Sure enough, I went over and the 15 inch channel catfish was not in great shape, but was alive. It had burrowed into the humus under the log to apparently hibernate. Other than yesterday, our last rain event that was enough to flood the spillway was roughly 2 months ago. This fish obviously was not from yesterdays rain. Its caudal fin was frostbitten, and missing half way down to the peduncle. It also looked fairly dehydrated. So between the moisture, the log and humus for insulation, and many years of evolution and adaptation, this channel catfish was able to survive under a log for nearly two months. Pretty amazing.
Dry land sampling
Started by
Guest_Skipjack_*
, Dec 22 2013 06:13 PM
3 replies to this topic
#2
mattknepley
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- NANFA Member
- Smack-dab between the Savannah and the Saluda.
Posted 23 December 2013 - 06:36 AM
That's pretty impressive. That log and humus must've afforded just enough moisture to keep him going. I've always thought that catfish are the toughest group of fish, in general, that there are. This just provides more fuel for the fire, if you will... 
What did you do with it?
What did you do with it?
Matt Knepley
"No thanks, a third of a gopher would merely arouse my appetite..."
"No thanks, a third of a gopher would merely arouse my appetite..."
#3
littlen
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- NANFA Member
- Washington, D.C.
Posted 23 December 2013 - 07:42 AM
Very interesting story, Matt. I too am curious to hear what the next chapter of that guy's life was. It reminds me of cleaning the layer of leaves out of the bottom of a small, (koi) pond. Almost every time, every year, you inevitably grab a green frog that has hunkered down for the winter. Of course they are still alive, and in fairly good shape, albeit very cold and inactive. I always felt bad to have removed the leaf-litter they were hibernating in, and wondered how they did after that.
But a 'fish out of water' story is much cooler. Sorry about the terrible puns.
But a 'fish out of water' story is much cooler. Sorry about the terrible puns.
Nick L.
#4
Guest_Skipjack_*
Guest_Skipjack_*
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- Guests
Posted 23 December 2013 - 03:20 PM
Sorry to say, due to his rough condition, I put it down. It was simply my first thought. In hindsight, it would have been much more interesting to have put him in a tank, and see if he fully recovered, and regenerated his tail.
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