Had a bright sun coming at the east side of the pond yesterday around 6pm. I thought I would try to capture cell phone video of the spotfins and YP feeding given nice bright lighting and clear water.. The glare on the water wasn't so nice but the water is rarely this clear. I had to slow down the playback to about 40% in order to allow better glimpses of the spotfins. They never stop moving and rocket around at full speed.
I'm amazed at the spotfin growth. I bought 'mature adults' in spawning colors so that I could be sure I got a mix of male and female. They were tubular and about 3" long. Now the adults have to be 5" long and have a wide spot in their midsection and a tapered forked tail. They look more and more like the profile of a shark as they fly through the water! They launch themselves out of the water sometimes in order to be the first one to get the fish food.
If the first section of the video is too fast I can slow it down more. Sorry for the bad audio, when you slow it down everything gets distorted. You can make out the american toads keeping up their calls back and forth in the video. Only a few stragglers left in the shallows, the bottom of the pond now is covered with strands of eggs.
it is interesting how the YP seem to make a pass towards the surface, then stop, circle and then make a final pass at it to swipe it.
Fun stuff!
Spotfins and YP feeding 4.30.2021 5pm
