How does this happen...?

Mangler · Oct 19, 2005

Have you ever wondered how little puddles of mud suddenly "get" a school of minows in it? :crazy:

I hung a stand on a pine tree in the middle of a clear cut last week. At the time, the trail that I walked in was dry as a bone. Yesterday I revisted the stand to find that last weeks rain had generated a couple of 3' diamter puddles about 3" deep on the trail leading to the stand. I was amazed to see ~12-15 minnows in each one????? How in the world does this happen. Dad always said that it "rained frogs and fish", but I don't see them in puddles around my yard! :banginghe

Handgunner · Oct 19, 2005

Jeff Phillips · Oct 19, 2005

Tadpoles maybe???

HuntinRebel3 · Oct 19, 2005

Bigfoot and the black panthers put them there! ::ke:

Seriously, I'd like to know the answer to this question. Mr. Vernon, you out there anywhere??

No. GA. Mt. Man · Oct 19, 2005

I've wondered about that too it's just like they come out of thin air.

GeauxLSU · Oct 19, 2005

Spontaneous generation.

Are you SURE they aren't tadpoles?

The eggs (of minnows) could be brought there on the feet/feathers of wading birds that stopped at the puddle for a drink/romp.

GAGE · Oct 19, 2005

The eggs (of minnows) could be brought there on the feet/feathers of wading birds that stopped at the puddle for a drink/romp.[/QUOTE]

I heard that is how catfish get moved around! :huh:

GeauxLSU · Oct 19, 2005

I'm betting coons might move a few eggs around as well....

Bowbender · Oct 19, 2005

I sure would like to know this as well.. :pop:

No. GA. Mt. Man · Oct 19, 2005

I just had a brain storm we can ask Branchminnow.

Mangler · Oct 19, 2005

Definitely not tadpoles. I guess the egg thing (fish eggs) is the only logical answer. :huh:

beginnersluck · Oct 19, 2005

Is it near a stream or creek? If so, alot of times the creeks can jump their banks and you're left with puddles full of minners! It happens all the time at the creek beside my house. If not that, then I don't know! I have heard of eggs that have been laid in wet weather pools that hatch the next time there is sufficient rain fall and it keeps the cycle going.

Vernon Holt · Oct 19, 2005

How Does This Happen?

Strange things happen in nature, but as long as gravity remains in force we can be reasonably sure that it will never rain fish, frogs, cats, or dogs.

This means that we must look elsewhere for an answer.

Mangler, you told us how big a puddle is, but you did not state how big a minnow is. At this point we would have to assume that the minnows were newly hatched (fry), and that they had managed to survive in the puddle that probably was almost dry but perhaps not completely dry. Newly arriving rain gave them a new lease on life, leading to your observing then in your trail.

The will to survive is one of natures true marvels. I have seen many instances where intermittent streams of the lower Coastal Plain would dry up and stay dry all summer and autumn. Even the potholes would dry up providing the gators, turtles, snakes, egrets, wood ibises, hogs, and buzzards with one final feast. The potholes would remain dry until winter rains would once again fill the streams with fresh water. By next summer when the same stream might very well dry up again, there will once again be an abundance of bullheads, redfin pike, warmouth, stumpknockers, mudfish, and top minnows for the creatures mentioned above to once again gorge on the bounty.

It is true that wading birds will deposit fish eggs in a lake or stream. Wading birds would never introduce enough eggs to create the above described situation. There must be another explanation.

I believe the explanation lies in the following. Crawfish excavate holes in the stream bed that will enable them to follow the retreating water table as it recedes. Small fry and even viable eggs will follow this retreating water table as well. Remember that there would be tens of thousands of crawfish holes in a given stream bed. Not only crawfish holes, but root channels left after dead roots of trees have rotted out. Gator caves would be excellent sources of life saving moisture. The theory then is that a sufficient number of fry (tiny fish), along with an abundance of viable eggs would survive to replenish themselves another day.

Some would say that this entire process is evolution in action. I would say that this is the hand of almighty God in action.

Vernon

Mangler · Oct 19, 2005

The minnows were ~1.5" long. I'm not sure what kind they were so don't really know if they would be considered "fry". There is a creek nearby (8-mile Creek) that has an aboundance of fish, turtles, snakes, cranes and a few gators. I have witnessed this on the other side of the club where there isn't any creeks, but I guess eggs could still be carried over. Last year in this particular area I watched (over a few weeks) a puddle about 3'X8'X3" that had the same type of minnows in it slowly dry up completly. Felt a sorry for the little guys when I finally saw them all laying dead in the mud one morning.

Handgunner · Oct 19, 2005

No. GA. Mt. Man said:
I just had a brain storm we can ask Branchminnow.

Branchminnow · Oct 20, 2005

Vernon Holt said:
Strange things happen in nature, but as long as gravity remains in force we can be reasonably sure that it will never rain fish, frogs, cats, or dogs.

This means that we must look elsewhere for an answer.

Mangler, you told us how big a puddle is, but you did not state how big a minnow is. At this point we would have to assume that the minnows were newly hatched (fry), and that they had managed to survive in the puddle that probably was almost dry but perhaps not completely dry. Newly arriving rain gave them a new lease on life, leading to your observing then in your trail.

The will to survive is one of natures true marvels. I have seen many instances where intermittent streams of the lower Coastal Plain would dry up and stay dry all summer and autumn. Even the potholes would dry up providing the gators, turtles, snakes, egrets, wood ibises, hogs, and buzzards with one final feast. The potholes would remain dry until winter rains would once again fill the streams with fresh water. By next summer when the same stream might very well dry up again, there will once again be an abundance of bullheads, redfin pike, warmouth, stumpknockers, mudfish, and top minnows for the creatures mentioned above to once again gorge on the bounty.

It is true that wading birds will deposit fish eggs in a lake or stream. Wading birds would never introduce enough eggs to create the above described situation. There must be another explanation.

I believe the explanation lies in the following. Crawfish excavate holes in the stream bed that will enable them to follow the retreating water table as it recedes. Small fry and even viable eggs will follow this retreating water table as well. Remember that there would be tens of thousands of crawfish holes in a given stream bed. Not only crawfish holes, but root channels left after dead roots of trees have rotted out. Gator caves would be excellent sources of life saving moisture. The theory then is that a sufficient number of fry (tiny fish), along with an abundance of viable eggs would survive to replenish themselves another day.

Some would say that this entire process is evolution in action. I would say that this is the hand of almighty God in action.

Vernon

Well NGMM and Delton Mr Holt just gave you my answer

:bounce:

And if you believe that then Ive got some lake front property in the sahara desert I need to sell.

No. GA. Mt. Man · Oct 20, 2005

Branch I was going to give Mr. Vernon's answer and he beat me to it too. ::ke:

Branchminnow · Oct 20, 2005

Us mountain boys are just a wealth of knowledge.

SmokyMtnSmoke · Oct 20, 2005

Some would say that this entire process is evolution in action. I would say that this is the hand of almighty God in action.

I love the Science Man has put behind Evolution, you know Darwin and all of that, and I've always just looked at that science as "The way GOD Planned it!"

LJay · Oct 20, 2005

I've got one of those little man made rock water falls with the pool and the bottom. I am at least 1/2 mi. from the nearest creek. Early this summer, a small bullfrog showed up. He is still here and has grown much bigger. I don't know where he came from either. ( That would be a lotta hoppin for a small frog)

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