Summary: What does the Aba aba eat? Join Kiersten and a guest co-host to find out!
For my hearing impaired followers, a complete transcript of this podcast follows the show notes on Podbean
Show Notes:
“Morphology of Aba Knife Fish (Gymnarchus niloticus) (Cuvier, 1829)”, by S.O. Ayoola and C. E. Abotti. World Journal of Fish and Marine Sciences 2 (5): 354-356, 2010.
“Aspects of the biology of juvenile Aba, Gymnarchus niloticus (Cuvier 1829) from Eye Lagoon, Lagos, Nigeria,” by FV Oluwale, Ugwumba AAA, and OA Ugwumba. International Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Studies 2019; 7(30): 267-274. www.fisheriesjournal.com
“Some Ecological Factors of the Tropical Floodplain Influencing the Breeding and Conservation of Gymnarchus niloticus (Cuvier 1829): A Review,” by Oladosu O. O., Oladosu G. A., and Hart A. L. https://core.ac.uk/downloads/pdf/158459099.pdf
Music written and performed by Katherine Camp
Transcript
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Kiersten - This is Ten Things I Like About…a ten minute, ten episode podcast about unknown or misunderstood wildlife.
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Kiersten - Welcome to Ten Things I Like About… I’m Kiersten, your host, and this is a podcast about misunderstood or unknown creatures in nature. Some we’ll find right out side our doors and some are continents away but all are fascinating.
This podcast will focus ten, ten minute episodes on different animals and their amazing characteristics. Please join me on this extraordinary journey, you won’t regret it.
This is episode six of Aba aba and the sixth thing I like about Gymnarchus niloticus is their diet. We have talked a bit about this is the past, but we will add a bit more detail of what Aba abas like to eat in this episode.
I have a guest co-host with me this week as I have had some dental work done and need help with all this talking! My husband, Georgiy, is helping me today. Welcome Georgiy, and thanks for helping me out!
Georgiy: Absolutely! Hi!
Kiersten: I know you’ve been listening to this series…right?
Georgiy: Riiight…
Kiersten: Of course you love it. What’s your favorite thing about the Aba aba so far?
Georgiy: The scientific name. Let me try to pronounce it. Gymnastic nalarcus?
Kiersten: (laughs) Not even close! Gymnar-kus niloti-kus.
Georgiy: (laughs) Gymnar-kus niloti-kus
Kiersten: I like that too, but I like everything about the Aba aba. Can you tell our listeners what you’ve learned about what the Aba aba eats?
Georgiy: I know they are carnivores, so they like to eat meat.
Kiersten: Definitely!
Georgiy: When they are small, 2 to 3 inches in length, they eat insects found in the water and very small fish. A study done in Nigeria found that 36% of juvenile diets were made up of aquatic insects.
Kiersten: Really?
Georgiy: Yes! 32% of the diet was made up of fish.
Kiersten: Interesting. Did it say what kind of insects and fish?
Georgiy: No. They looked at stomach contents of dead juveniles, so they only found small parts of the digested prey.
Kiersten: Hmmm. It sounds like the juvenile Aba aba is a specialist feeder on insects?
Georgiy: Yes! Exactly. Another study showed that Aba aba young that have used up their egg yolks will eat the midge larvae that are in the nests with them! The adult midges lay eggs on the grasses that the male Aba abas use to make their nests!
Kiersten: Wow! That’s so smart. I love it! Bring the food to you. Does their diet change as they get older?
Georgiy: Yes. As they get older, and larger, they can eat bigger prey items. They will eat more fish, such as silversides, tetras, or African catfish, and add crustaceans to their diet. They will still eat insects but this makes up very little of the diet when they are adults.
Kiersten: That sounds like a smart survival plan.
Georgiy: Yes. The Aba aba are not competing with each other for food sources and they don’t risk injury by hunting something larger than themselves. What did you feed them at the zoo?
Kiersten: Ooo. Good question! We fed them silver side fish and shrimp. The nutritionist made sure we varied his diet so he got the right type of nutrients to keep him healthy. The nutrition staff made the diet for us and weighed out just the right amount of food, so he didn’t get overweight, but also didn’t get too hungry. He never turned his noise up at anything we offered him. It was one more thing I like about working with him. We never had to worry about him not eating.
Georgiy: How did you feed him?
Kiersten: This was also fun! Since his eyesight was not great, we fed him with tongs so we never had to remove decaying fish form the tank. That can get pretty gross and can be detrimental to his health. We offered him one piece at a time with tongs that were about 12 inches long. We just dipped the fish or shrimp into the water and it was only a matter of moments before he found it.
Georgiy: That sounds fun.
Kiersten: It was fun, but we had to be careful because if he accidental got one of our fingers he could really hurt us. When Aba abas eat their prey they suck the food into their mouths with a quick forceful suction. If you remember my bite story from last week, the popping sound, that was the suction action he used to pull the prey item into his mouth. If it had been something smaller than my arm he could have bitten off my finger.
Georgiy: Whoa!
Kiersten: Yep! Once an Aba aba has sucked in a prey item they clamp their mouths shut and use their bony tongue to help guide the food down their esophagus whole!
Georgiy: That cool!
Kiersten: It actually is pretty cool.
Georgiy: How do the find their food in the wild?
Kiersten: That is a great question and I will be answering that in next week’s episode.
Thanks for helping me out with this episode Georgiy, I really appreciate it.
Georgiy: My pleasure. Thanks for having me!
Kiersten: I hope you all enjoyed this episode about the Aba aba diet because it is my sixth favorite thing bout them.
If you're enjoying this podcast please recommend me to friends and family and take a moment to give me a rating on whatever platform your listening. It will help me reach more listeners and give the animals I talk about an even better chance at change.
Join me next week for another exciting episode about the Aba aba.
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This has been an episode of Ten Things I like About with Kiersten and Company. Original music written and performed by Katherine Camp, piano extraordinaire.
