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The locals call all catfish barbels. This attrocity ocurred in the South Luangwa National Park, Zambia. Any ideas as to which species this is? The Yellow-billed Storks caught about 100 of these in a drying pool. They were about 10 to 12 inches long (25 cm +). I wish I could have brought several live ones home with me.

These look like . What you observed seems to be a pretty common phenomenon in southern Africa (I have seen at least two documentary footages that document this).

Silurus is a little bit too fast for me, I came up with the same answer [probably because I had to figure out which one of the Clarias spp. that was common in Africa, rather than just going straight for the right one...]

As to bringing these into the US, I wouldn't recommend it. They are escape artists (they can WALK between waters), and wouldn't be a good addition to the local fish-fauna - they tend to eat all other fish...

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Mats

Wow, they get big! And they have a very wide distribution. Thanks for the I.D. There were also pelicans and fish eagles feeding on these. It was quite a sight to see.

Nice photos, Greggo!!
Amanda

I am with Amanda. Brilliant photos.
-Shane

The pics look great Excellent quality.
Shaun
Fish gotta swim, Birds gotta eat...

Thanks for the compliments on the photos. Here are a few more I've converted. You can see that the C. gariepinus does not look very happy.

Greggo wrote:

You know, this one should be in the cat-elog with a brief caption to what's going on.

Greggo,

If agreeable, would you be able to email me the pic full size?

Jools

I'm surprised those storks can fly after a meal that size!



Great picures. Really vivid colours.