Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Little Fish in a Big Pond

Spring is most certainly here, and the animals in and around My Florida Backyard are making the most of it. While birds are building nests in the trees overhead, fish are doing the same in the pond nearby, and we managed to grab a pretty decent picture of one the other day:


One of the interesting things about fish who build nests to spawn is that it is often the male who does the hard work. He first builds the nest by choosing a good site and then swimming in circles, fanning out the sandy bottom with his tail and fins. When the nest is ready, a female deposits her eggs, which the male then fertilizes. After that, the female takes off, leaving the male to guard the nest until the hatchlings emerge. It's surprising how many instances of male-heavy parenting take place in the natural world!

P.S. We're not entirely sure what kind of fish is pictured above - if you know, please do drop us a line in the comments.

12 comments:

  1. That's a great photo. It looks like a crater on the moon. Very interesting!

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    Replies
    1. Susan, this looks nothing like a crater on the moon.

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  2. What a great picture of that fish. That is a big area to lay eggs. He or she must have big plans:) You are fortunate to be able to see this sort of thing. So many of us are too far removed from natural happenings or just don't notice them. I'm going to be looking in all the ponds I come across now.

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  3. It is a tilapia :) Non-native but they build some really cool nest bowls. Lots of them in the Hillsborough River too.

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    1. No it isn't tilapia. Small mouth bass maybe. Shell Cracker perhaps. Crappie possibly but it's not Tilapia.

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  4. African ciclids do this, I used to have small ciclids in a 75 gallon fish tank. And they are invasive in Florida, we have many ciclids in ponds in Clearwater.

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  5. I like the article. It is informative. Looking forward to read many more such informative articles and blog posts.
    Garden Pond Liner

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  8. Thank you I live in Florida and see this all around, Great explanation !!!

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  9. I have them here and they are not tilapia

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