Postby TriP » November 13th, 2014, 11:38 pm
Local Fish ~ Jumping Guabine
Jumping Guabines are found throughout TT
They thrive in a variety of habitats, from Muddy Road-side Puddles to the Shallow Edges of Large Rivers
It can Breathe Atmospheric air through its Tail, which is covered in Capillaries.
A Jumping Guabine can “jump” out of water on to land and survive for a considerable time, as long as it does not dry out entirely.
This allows these fish to travel short distances over land to new bodies of water, and it is not unusual to find a few individuals in isolated puddles, often some distance away from permanent water
Travelling outside of water is also the reason they are often the only fish found in the highest stretches of Rivers in the Northern Range – pools that even guppies have failed to colonize.
Jumping Guabines can simply make multiple jumps to scale the sheer rock face of a waterfall!
Another advantage of jumping is that it allows hungry individuals to hunt prey that may be otherwise out of reach – on overhanging vegetation or at the water’s edge, such as Ants - Insects
Incredibly, they have been recorded jumping as high as 14 centimetres, more than their total body length, to catch prey.
While in the water, they are ravenous predators of small aquatic invertebrates, small fish and tadpoles. As a result, in an example of excellent parenting,
Trinidad stream frogs, Mannophryne trinitatis, will always check for Jumping Guabine before depositing their tadpoles in a pool to ensure the safety of their young.
Female Jumping Guabine scatter their eggs in aquatic vegetation.
On hatching, the young fish (at one centimetre long), tend to bury quickly into the sediment to avoid predation.
Has also been observed to travel on land and feed on insects in wet weather
(Not Suitable for Aquariums)
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