434 
FOREST AND STREAM 
April 5, 1913 
A Queer Catfish. 
In a recent publication of the Annals of 
the Academy of New York Sciences are printed 
some notes on a climbing catfish, by R. D. O. 
Johnson, which are of unusual interest. 
The catfish in question resembles in a gen¬ 
eral way the ordinary catfish, or horned-pout of 
the north. The skin is smooth and without 
scales; the color a dark, mottled gray, and the 
fish is small, rarely being more than twelve 
inches long. These fish are clumsy, awkward 
swimmers, wriggling through the water like tad¬ 
poles. They are found in the creeks and rivers 
of the Andes Mountains in the Republic of 
Colombia, South America. 
This is a region of tremendous rainfalls, 
four or five inches of water sometimes falling 
within a few hours, and producing floods of 
immense volume. The rock over which the 
streams flow is soft and rapidly worn away. The 
stream beds are steep, consisting for the most 
part of a succession of falls, cascades, pot-holes 
and short riffles. If these catfish depended merely 
on their swimming powers, they would be swept 
out of the stream in a very short time; instead 
of—as they do—remaining there and multiplying 
so that they are very abundant. 
These fish are provided with a mechanism 
which enables them to anchor themselves and 
hold their position during these floods, and a 
further mechanism whick enables them to creep 
and climb in any direction. The mouth of this 
fish is small, but it is surrounded by a broad, 
soft, rubber-like flap, thin and flexible at the 
edges, and by the use of this sucker mouth and 
its surrounding mouth flap, the fish is enabled 
at once firmly to attach itself to any convenient 
object. Besides this, on the belly, just back of 
CATFISH. 
the pectoral fins, there is a triangular plate, to 
which the ventral fins are attached. The outer 
front ribs of these fins are broad and flattened, 
and their flat surfaces are thickly studded with 
small, sharp teeth, pointing backward. The tri¬ 
angular plate and its attached fins may be moved 
forward and backward through a distance equal 
to about one-sixth of the length of the fish, and 
by means of the alternate action of the mouth 
and of this belly apparatus, the fish is able to 
creep along against a current that would sweep 
it away, if it depended solely on its swimming 
powers. 
On sunshiny days, when the water is clear, 
these fish may be seen moving about, hitching 
themselves along over the surfaces of rocks and 
stones, sometimes swimming for short distances, 
but seeming to depend in moving about chiefly 
on their ability to creep. They are found in all 
parts of these mountain streams, even in the 
small tributaries of their heads, and they can 
only reach those highest waters by creeping up 
steep slopes. 
Mr. Johnson instances an extraordinary ex¬ 
ample of their powers in ascending surfaces 
which are vertical, or even overhanging. He 
had occasion to divert the waters of a small 
mountain stream, so that it would be practicable 
to get to a deep pot-hole, from which the water, 
rock and gravel were afterward removed. The 
pot-hole was twenty-two feet deep, nearly cir¬ 
cular, and varied in diameter from six to ten 
feet. The sides were generally vertical and in 
some parts inclined inward. When the water 
had been lowered to within four feet of the bot¬ 
tom, it was seen that the hole contained a large 
number of these catfish. They were greatly ex¬ 
cited and were swimming and creeping in all 
directions. A small stream of water in a thin 
film ran down one side of the pot-hole from a 
leak in the dam above. This small inflowing 
stream was at last discovered by some of the 
fish, which began to creep up the side of the 
hole in the water, but were frightened by the 
movements of the workmen and dropped back. 
At noon, when the work was stopped, four of 
the smaller fish started up the wall, following 
the thin stream of water which ran over their 
noses, down their backs and trickled off their 
tails. They hitched themselves rapidly up for 
a foot or two; then remained quiet for a short 
time, and proceeded for another foot, and took 
another rest. In half an hour the four had 
reached the water in the pool at the foot of 
the dam above. In making the ascent, they 
passed over a part of the wall about two feet 
in length that inclined inward at an angle of 
about ,'^0 degrees from the vertical. This slope 
seemed to make no difference in their movements 
or speed, but they passed over it rapidly and 
safely. During the afternoon several more of 
the fish climbed out, but in the evening, when 
work stopped, there were a large number still 
at the bottom of the hole. The next morning 
not one remained. 
For the most part the path followed by these 
fish in climbing up this rocky wall lay over 
smooth, water-worn surfaces, free from any 
coating of vegetable matter, but on the upper 
part there was a thin film of vegetation that 
may have been of use in catching the sharp- 
pointed teeth on the movable ventral fins. The 
vertical distance climbed by the fish measured 
eighteen feet. 
These catfish deposit their eggs in the deepest 
pot-holes and attach them one by one to the 
under sides of large stones. 
Trout in North Carolina. 
Ltnville Falls, N. C., March 22. — Editor 
Forest and Stream: The trout season on Lin- 
ville River will open May i. The past season 
has been exceptionally favorable for the trout, 
as the winter has been open, with no ice or 
floods to injure the fish. Much damage has 
been done in some winters by the formation of 
ice that goes out with tremendous force down 
the narrow, rocky gorge. Floods also do much 
harm to the fish, carrying quantities of debris 
and sand down the river. The past year has 
been free from anything of this kind. The river 
has been well stocked every year for five years 
and may be expected to give better sport this 
year than usual. 
The Crest of the Blue Ridge Highway, now 
building from Altapass on the C., C. & O. rail¬ 
way, twelve miles to this place, is well on its 
way to completion, and will be finished some 
time this summer, the engineers say. It is an 
automobile road with a maximum grade of 
per cent., crossing the Blue Ridge and going 
along its crest in various places. Here it fol¬ 
lows for several miles the summit of Hump¬ 
back Mountain, altitude 4,300 feet, from which 
