What Fish Jump Out Of Water At Night
Mina Delahoussaye
Some scientists believe they leap from the water when pursued by predators. Others say it is to shake off clinging parasites. Some experts believe they do it during spawning season to break open their egg sacks as they prepare to spawn. One scientific paper done on the mullet points to mullet jumping to seek more oxygen.
Mullet are a bluish-gray color or green on top with shades of silver on the sides with horizontal black barrings. The belly is white. They have two separate dorsal fins, a blunt nose and a small triangular mouth.
This fish is found worldwide. They are seen in the Gulf of Mexico and from Nova Scotia to Brazil in the western Atlantic. In the eastern Atlantic they live from the Bay of Biscay in France to South Africa and in the Mediterranean Sea and Black Sea. They are also found in the eastern Pacific Ocean from Southern California to Chile.
They feed on algae, detritus and other tiny marine invertebrates. These fish usually swim in large schools and are speedy swimmers. They regularly grow to one to three pounds, but can reach more than 10 pounds.
My boyfriend and I recently had a post-sunset picnic at Mission Bay. We observed fish jumping out of the water (really!). I thought they were jumping out and flipping down to scratch themselves. The boyfriend thought they might be eating little bugs Who's right? Or were we imagining the whole thing?
I have lived in San Diego all my life. I am sitting at the MB Aquatic Center picnic bench. Can you explain why it is that the fish in Mission Bay jump up aerobically and splash/dive back down under? This only occurs at about 4:30 to 6 p.m. Especially when it's quiet and calm, without jet skier activity.
Imagining the whole thing? Heck, no. There's even a famous song about it. "Summertime, and the livin' is easy./ Fish are jumpin', and the cotton is high." Or anyway, down at the beach you can bet something is high. The elves dusted off their accordions and composed an answer. And it goes something like this:
I was truly disappointed in your answer to the jumping fish of Mission Bay question, but elated that after all these years I finally know something that you do not!! I am a tour guide on the Old Town Trolley SEAL Tour, an amphibious vehicle that tours both San Diego Bay and Mission Bay. During runs on Mission Bay, [I've witnessed] as many as thirty fish jumping out of the water in five minutes time.... The fish are striped mullets. They live in the shallow coastal of the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico and are famous for their jumping. They jump over the lines of fishermen, and once caught, they jump out of the net!! No elaborate mating dance, no effect of the moon, no parasite problems, no other fish chasing them, not just catching bugs, or escaping funky water. They are just born to jump!!! They do this everywhere!
In my experience, fish that are used to swimming a lot will sometimes jump in a smaller tank - my research pulled up some articles that thought they hope to land in a larger body of water. Or if the water isn't to their liking, they may also do this.
I have heard my TFBs hit the lid at night after lights out. I don't if they are being spooked by something or are striking at some floating morsel. I firmly believe that some fish do play. I have watched the SAEs playing tag with the Tetras. If you keep the water level as high as possible, the more energetic fish could accidently jump to their death. In the small community, the SAEs are the largest fish in the tank, so there is nothing there for them to be afraid of.
A lid is a good idea for a couple of reasons. If you don't want a solid glass lid, than a piece of ceiling light grate is a great alternative. You don't have to remove it for feeding or topping off. If you do decide to use the ceiling grate, do not buy one with a reflective coating. The coating will disintegrate.
And these fish are studied extensively. The Illinois River Biological Station, a part of the Illinois Natural History Survey, is one of the longest-running biological monitoring programs on the continent. Asian carp were first captured in the Illinois River in 1998. And then they spread and proliferated, like a fire raging up the river. Today, the central section of the Illinois River is home to more than 1,200 carp per kilometer.
The invasive fish known collectively as Asian carp represent four species: silver, bighead, black and grass carp. Much of the focus has been on silver and bighead carp, which were intentionally imported to U.S. aquaculture facilities to control algae.
In a recurring invasive species story, the carp were difficult to contain. Fish farms flooded, releasing the carp into rivers and canals. That ability to jump aided the carp in clearing small dams and spreading rapidly.
Black carp were also imported to aquaculture facilities to control parasites. This species is fairly new and their spread (and potential for spread) needs more study. Black carp feed on mollusks, which makes it of particular concern as many Midwest rivers have imperiled native mussels.
Grass carp are established across the country and continue to be introduced to ponds and canals to control algae and aquatic vegetation. While any grass carp released are supposed to be sterile, that has not always proven to be the case.
This jumping habit has undoubtedly made the silver carp a media star (or perhaps, villain). In particular, their jumping often results in them vaulting onto boats, and even injuring boat passengers and water skiers.
Of course, any fish with a population of 1,200 per river kilometer impacts the river ecosystem. The carp invasion has occurred quickly, so some impacts are speculation, but there are peer-reviewed papers. The Illinois River Biological Station has been monitoring the river for decades, so has the baseline data to make comparisons.
Silver and bighead carp feed on zooplankton, the foundation of the food chain. They are as such in direct competition with fish like gizzard shad, which are in turn forage fish for largemouth bass and a variety of other species.
There have been other reported impacts including erosion of stream banks and reduction in water clarity, but some of these appear anecdotal. The huge increase in carp, though, has already significantly changed the fish composition on Midwest rivers.
Conservationists fear Asian carp reaching the Upper Mississippi River and the Great Lakes, which would likely compound this ecological tragedy. Researchers are deploying increasingly effective monitoring techniques, including sampling water for carp eDNA. The presence of a fish or small number of fish can be detected by environmental DNA (eDNA), although bird feces containing fish DNA can lead to carp detection where there are not any.
Silver and bighead carp feed on plankton, which makes them difficult to catch with conventional fishing methods. I do have some friends who have had some success in certain waters, using green or chartreuse lures and flies. But this is an extremely niche activity.
Remember cruelty is not necessary to address an invasive species and many of the methods listed here such as using swords meet that criteria. Fish are no longer plentiful and the carp are tasty, why not serve them up for dinner using humane ways to catch and process them.
The electrofishing is done by researchers to collect fish specimens. It is not done for recreational purposes. In fact, it is illegal to electrofish recreationally. Also, these Asian carp are highly invasive and have extreme effects on native fish species and the ecosystem. If there are no more carp years from now, it will be celebrated as a huge conservation success. Thanks for writing. Matt
I too am disappointed. The objectives may be sound, but in recent years the Nature Conservancy has become more and more unethical and inhumane in its methodologies to rid habitats of unwanted species, baiting animals with poisons, spraying toxic chemicals, and even rounding up animals by the hundreds for mass slaughter if they stand in the way of a project.
In past years, boaters have been injured by direct strikes with sturgeon. In 2015, there were five reportable accidents involving sturgeon strikes. Three accidents occurred on the Suwannee River and two occurred on the Santa Fe River. The accidents involved one fatality and eight injuries.
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