![\"\"](\"http:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/common-goldeneye-1777.jpg\" "\\"Common")
<\/a><\/p>\nMale Common Goldeneye with unidentified (at the time) fish<\/em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The moment of capture<\/em><\/p>\n Then, on October 2, 2008, I\u00a0took some photos of a Snowy Egret fishing, also at Farmington.\u00a0 Finally, I\u00a0became\u00a0curious about\u00a0the unusual fish – noticing the\u00a0atypical elongated almost eel-like body in particular.<\/p>\n I made some casual inquiries\u00a0of refuge personnel about fish species present there but didn’t get anything definitive that would match this fish.\u00a0\u00a0 More time went by, then I finally\u00a0showed Justina Parsons-Bernstein some of the photos and asked her about the fish.\u00a0 She is the Director of The Great Salt Lake Nature Center at Farmington Bay WMA and she was also curious as to what species of fish it was so she sent some of my images to a vertebrate specialist with the state of Utah.\u00a0 He keyed it out as a Weather Loach.<\/p>\n It turns out that the Weather Loach or Dojo Loach as it is also known\u00a0(Misgurnus\u00a0anguillicaudatus)<\/em>\u00a0is quite a remarkable\u00a0fish.\u00a0 The name Weather Loach comes from the fact that it is highly sensitive to minor changes in barometric pressure and when it perceives such a change its behaviour becomes\u00a0erratic, active and animated.\u00a0 Humans have kept them captive as a weather indicator for centuries.\u00a0<\/p>\n They are a very hardy species, capable of surviving poor conditions by swallowing atmospheric air and forcing it through their digestive system where their intestine absorbs oxygen into their blood stream.\u00a0 Excess air is expelled through the anus.\u00a0 They can survive out of water for many hours.\u00a0<\/p>\n Native mostly to Asia where it’s commonly eaten by humans, the Weather Loach is a\u00a0popular aquarium species in much of the world – thus the problem.\u00a0 They prefer cold water but can tolerate wide temperature ranges so when aquarists dispose of their fish in fresh water streams, ponds and lakes they often survive and even thrive.\u00a0 In some parts of the world they have become a significant problem as an invasive species.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n Likely what has happened here in Utah is that\u00a0aquarists have disposed of their unwanted fish into the Jordan River which drains into the marshes of the\u00a0Great Salt\u00a0Lake, including Farmington.\u00a0<\/p>\n Below are a couple of better looks at the loach.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Snowy Egret with Weather Loach<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n A closer look<\/em><\/p>\n I’ve been unable to find any online references that indicate that the Weather Loach as an invasive species is recognized\u00a0by Utah authorities as a viable ecological threat.\u00a0 In fact I haven’t even found any mention of them surviving in the wild in Utah waters.\u00a0 One might suspect that the two fish caught by the egret and goldeneye\u00a0could be isolated incidents.\u00a0 However, twenty minutes after this egret caught and ate\u00a0the loach it did the same with a second loach, see photo below.\u00a0 That would indicate to me that there’s likely a thriving population of them in at least a few of\u00a0the marshes of the Great Salt Lake.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n