Please help settle a discussion.

I have strange fish: bowfin, gar, eels in my 18 year old 3 acre retention pond in North FLa. The pond was originally stocked by fishermen with what they caught else where. I think the above fish are a bit eccentric to go to that much effort.

The wife & her brother argue that waterfowl droppings are the source of the unique fish. It does not seem likey that eggs or fry would be viable after passing though their digestive tract. Plant seeds, yes.

I do not believe that senario is very likely. But a slightly more likely possibility is that the fry and eggs could be transported on the feathers and feet of waterfowl. While I think this is possible but unlikely.

Your opinions Please.

Uh Oh - the floodgates about to be opened again!!!!!!
J this subject has been "beaten like a borrowed mule"
so get ready!!!!!!!

Well, certainly no higher form of life will pass through the digestive tract of a bird. However, birds are most likely the primary source of "spontaneous pond stocking". I have observed egrets eating gambusia, and seen live babies (from a the ruptured belly of a pregnant female)stuck to the bird's beak. I think the babies would live at least 20 minutes. I beleive fertilized eggs can occasionally stick to a bird's feet. Also, birds will fly across water carrying a fish to the nest. Other birds will often harrass the bird, and it will instinctively drop the fish to get away. Nature finds a way!

Not to discount non-human options (which have been discussed practically ad nauseum already, as noted), but I wouldn't rule out human stocking of ANYTHING. There's "unique" tastes in fish, there's purposeful rough fish stocking (I know of one pond where goldfish were stocked to "get" the owner), and most of all...

Never underestimate the power of human stupidity!

heeee hawww

J.E....I'm in the birds can definitely transfer (certain) fish species from one body of water to another camp (via legs and feathers...not digestive tract).....although I dont dare speculate about gar and bowfin.

is it bad to have gold fish in a pond?

It is if you don't want them. They can get to be quite large, spawn in ponds, and the out-generations tend to lose the attractive coloring. It can be quite similar to having common carp (with which they can supposedly cross).

Theo, Goldfish can definitely cross with Koi, cause I got six of the little buggers. They are not real handsome as you say. A Koi is just a carp.

The Bird Spread theory (also known as the B.S. hypothesis) set to rhyme

Old blue heron thinks eggs are sweet,
Eats ‘em as a special treat.
Picks up more on his heron feet.

Then snickering in his heron way,
Flies to your pond that very day.
Poops out some eggs, all intact,
Washes off others, hit’s a fact.

Herons are evil with an evil plot,
To bring gar and eels where they were not.
Not like humans, who are never so mean,
As to bring trash fish upon the scene.

Please send all royalty checks to Mudcat Joe
Lou

heeee hawwwww

...I see Dave finally got that side job broadcasting for K.O.R.N.
:p

Lou, I figure Mr. M Joe will get all that is coming to him.

Why do I suspect Mudcat Joe is one of the other three people in the world who writes dirty haiku? :rolleyes:

Go Joe, Go
Mudcat's in the flow
A little rhyme
and just in time
to solve a fishy crime.

That's great. Mudcat is my hero. Can we make him a moderator?

Run, Mudcat, run! You are in big trouble, now! They done caught you runnin' that trot-line on the catfish farm.

friend recently said he got 2 walleye out of my pond. could fish have been in stream/wetland when pond built?