Salamanderfish question

[elephantnose3334]

It's been a while since I heard about the salamanderfish. I just saw a video of the salamanderfish, which depicts the fish bending their neck. How do they bend their neck? Is it the physics behind the neck-bend? Or is it just a unique trait for the fish? Anyone knows why they bend their neck like that?

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Interesting fish! I suppose they move their necks the same way any other critter does: Muscles attached to bones by ligaments. It is an unusual range of motion for a fish, though. I am sometimes surprised by the way bettas will bend their heads around. It's part of what makes them so intelligent looking.

 

[GaryE]

There are a lot of fish on many continents with that bottom hopping lifestyle, but that is the first I've seen of that one. It's a neat little fish.

Chances are, the ability to bend the neck was a mutation that gave it an advantage, and it bends its neck for the same reason we bend ours - because it can. It's alone in its genus , so it's a special little creature. It looks like a North American darter, or a bottom hopper tetra from South America. Cool. Thanks for sharing that.

 

[Colin_T]

They have evolved to bend their neck so they can dig holes in the mud floor and bury themselves during the summer. They aestivate during the dry season (late spring and summer) and reappear when it rains in autumn. To aestivate they have a bony ridge on their head and they use it to dig a hole down around 18-24 inches below the floor of the pool.

At the bottom of the hole they secrete a mucous cocoon around themselves and go to sleep.

If the fish have gained enough weight during winter and spring before they aestivate, they will survive the summer and reappear in autumn when it rains. However, if they haven't gained enough weight, they die during aestivation.

Due to climate change reducing the rainfall in autumn, winter and spring, the fish have less time in pools to grow and gain weight and spend more time aestivating. The same thing with warmer weather, the water warms up faster and evaporates sooner, and this causes them to aestivate sooner, and most of the fish will not survive the dry season. When climate change is bad (in a few years time), none of the fish will survive aestivation and they will become extinct like the dinosaurs. And these fish have been around since the dinosaurs so that is a terrible loss caused by stupid people ruining the planet.

 

[elephantnose3334]

They have evolved to bend their neck so they can dig holes in the mud floor and bury themselves during the summer. They aestivate during the dry season (late spring and summer) and reappear when it rains in autumn. To aestivate they have a bony ridge on their head and they use it to dig a hole down around 18-24 inches below the floor of the pool.

At the bottom of the hole they secrete a mucous cocoon around themselves and go to sleep.

If the fish have gained enough weight during winter and spring before they aestivate, they will survive the summer and reappear in autumn when it rains. However, if they haven't gained enough weight, they die during aestivation.

Due to climate change reducing the rainfall in autumn, winter and spring, the fish have less time in pools to grow and gain weight and spend more time aestivating. The same thing with warmer weather, the water warms up faster and evaporates sooner, and this causes them to aestivate sooner, and most of the fish will not survive the dry season. When climate change is bad (in a few years time), none of the fish will survive aestivation and they will become extinct like the dinosaurs. And these fish have been around since the dinosaurs so that is a terrible loss caused by stupid people ruining the planet.

What if the WA government and the federal government actually cared for the salamanderfish? Will it be in LFS and zoos who want to help save the species from extinction?

 

[Colin_T]

The government doesn't care about fish or anything except getting their name in the history books, which is quite ironic considering nobody will be alive to read those books if the government doesn't act now to fix the planet.

The only way these fish will survive is if people collect them and keep them in captivity. However, nobody has managed to breed them in captivity and most people have trouble keeping them alive.

It's highly probable these fish will need a large pond with 2 feet of soft dirt on the bottom they can burrow into to aestivate, before reappearing the following year to breed. This would mean special ponds that are kept full of water for 8 months of the year and then allowed to dry out but not let the soil dry out completely.

If you know someone who lives down south with a farm property and is willing to build a few dams and keep everything away from them so the fish can live there, maybe get them to collect some fish from the wild and try to keep them alive. But without that the fish are doomed.

 

[elephantnose3334]

The government doesn't care about fish or anything except getting their name in the history books, which is quite ironic considering nobody will be alive to read those books if the government doesn't act now to fix the planet.

The only way these fish will survive is if people collect them and keep them in captivity. However, nobody has managed to breed them in captivity and most people have trouble keeping them alive.

It's highly probable these fish will need a large pond with 2 feet of soft dirt on the bottom they can burrow into to aestivate, before reappearing the following year to breed. This would mean special ponds that are kept full of water for 8 months of the year and then allowed to dry out but not let the soil dry out completely.

If you know someone who lives down south with a farm property and is willing to build a few dams and keep everything away from them so the fish can live there, maybe get them to collect some fish from the wild and try to keep them alive. But without that the fish are doomed.

I think I have an idea. Maybe talk to the Perth Zoo if they want to participate in the conservation of the salamanderfish? It could help. If the Perth Zoo have enough space for a big pond/aquarium hybrid project for them, I think it would be a good idea. AQWA does not have freshwater fish or do captive breeding programs unfortunately. The only way is to try contacting Perth Zoo about the salamanderfish.

 

[elephantnose3334]

I think I have an idea. Maybe talk to the Perth Zoo if they want to participate in the conservation of the salamanderfish? It could help. If the Perth Zoo have enough space for a big pond/aquarium hybrid project for them, I think it would be a good idea. AQWA does not have freshwater fish or do captive breeding programs unfortunately. The only way is to try contacting Perth Zoo about the salamanderfish.

Oh, and @Colin_T, did you see a new species of frog while you were catching your first salamanderfish?

 

[Colin_T]

Oh, and @Colin_T, did you see a new species of frog while you were catching your first salamanderfish?

Yeah, a friend spotted these tiny frogs breeding in among the leaves of the grass next to a pond on a golf course in Walpole, Western Australia. The frogs were about 5-6mm long and you could put 6 on an Australian 5 cent coin without any problems.

 

[elephantnose3334]

Yeah, a friend spotted these tiny frogs breeding in among the leaves of the grass next to a pond on a golf course in Walpole, Western Australia. The frogs were about 5-6mm long and you could put 6 on an Australian 5 cent coin without any problems.

I thought they were 3mm long. What was the species called? Or is it an undescribed species of tiny Australian frog? How can they fit on a 5 cent coin without any problems?

 

[Colin_T]

3mm, 5mm, who knows, it was years ago (back in 2000). They were tiny, that's how they fit on a 5 cent coin.

I don't know what species they were. Everyone I spoke to say they had never heard of such a small frog from here and assumed they were a new species, which is quite probably. Unfortunately they all died while I was collecting down south and none made it back to Perth.

Unlike frogs you see in movies, most Australian frogs don't do well when put in a bucket of water and they eventually drown if they can't get out. Unfortunately I didn't know that at the time. It turns out the best way to transport frogs from Aus, is to put them in a plastic container with a lid and a few drops of water. Then keep them shaded and open the lid up every few hours.

 

[elephantnose3334]

3mm, 5mm, who knows, it was years ago (back in 2000). They were tiny, that's how they fit on a 5 cent coin.

I don't know what species they were. Everyone I spoke to say they had never heard of such a small frog from here and assumed they were a new species, which is quite probably. Unfortunately they all died while I was collecting down south and none made it back to Perth.

Unlike frogs you see in movies, most Australian frogs don't do well when put in a bucket of water and they eventually drown if they can't get out. Unfortunately I didn't know that at the time. It turns out the best way to transport frogs from Aus, is to put them in a plastic container with a lid and a few drops of water. Then keep them shaded and open the lid up every few hours.

Oh dear. That did not go well since those frogs died on the way back. @Colin_T, when you joined the forum (2008), did you mention this and the salamanderfish to TFF before what happened in 2016?

 

[Colin_T]

I have no idea if I posted things about the salamanderfish before 2016. I have been on so many fish forums since Windows 95 and the internet became available, I really can't remember what I have written.

Just did a search and according to the search function here, I posted a thing about them in the following link.

Favorite Oddball

whats your favorite oddball that can fit in a tank of 100g or ess, so that means no aro or rays! :X mine would have to be rope fish and sennys! they're just so darn cute :lol:

www.fishforums.net

 

[GaryE]

One big problem with individuals trying conservation on a farm or whatever is that we have very short lifespans, compared to ages of the species we're destroying. Something that's been around for a few million years of change versus 80 or so human years? We need institutions to step up, so conservation can have continuity. Otherwise, we're like ants trying to keep tortoises.

But we see institutions being cut back and destroyed, at the whim of the very people who are denying climate change policies. Eventually, we'll be just another endangered species ourselves, if we don't manage to protect habitats (from us).

Clearly, I have a cheerful world view!

 

[elephantnose3334]

I have no idea if I posted things about the salamanderfish before 2016. I have been on so many fish forums since Windows 95 and the internet became available, I really can't remember what I have written.

Just did a search and according to the search function here, I posted a thing about them in the following link.

Favorite Oddball

whats your favorite oddball that can fit in a tank of 100g or ess, so that means no aro or rays! :X mine would have to be rope fish and sennys! they're just so darn cute :lol:

www.fishforums.net

I see. The 'favourite oddball' post was the oldest one you posted about the Salamanderfish. When was the first time when you knew about the salamanderfish to the other members in detail?