Tiny Chipi Chipi Fish Climb Rocks With Their Teeth During Mass Migration
Posted on May 27, 2014
Scientists have documented the mass migration of the tiny chipi chipi fish (Trichomycterus barbouri). WCS Conservationist Guido Miranda captured footage of the Beni River in Bolivia virtually boiling over with millions of the 1-inch long juvenile fish. The little fish belongs to the pencil catfish family.
Miranda says in a statement, "It's amazing that this natural wonder has gone unnoticed by science for all this time. The new footage will help us better understand the migratory movements of these fish and to protect the population, which is utilized by local communities as a food source."
Miranda and his colleagues are trying to determine the purpose of the migration, which takes the fish about 350 kilometers (about 217 miles). The researchers think the subadult chipi chipis migrate upstream to complete their development into adult fish. The determined little fish even leave the water and climb rocks using their teeth during their journey. They move at a rate of ten meters per minute. Take a look: