Sketching this river giant while talking about a freshwater fish that beaches itself like a killer whale to catch pigeons, thrives inside Chernobyl, and shares a name with whales for a reason. Day 350 of the daily art stream, 5:30am CT.
9 Fun Facts About Wels Catfish:
1. This freshwater fish taught itself to beach like an orca to snatch pigeons from dry land. In 2012, researchers at the University of Toulouse documented Wels catfish in France’s Tarn River lunging onto gravel banks to grab pigeons.
2. They hunt almost entirely by touch and vibration, not by sight. The Wels has tiny eyes and relies very little on vision when hunting in murky rivers.
3. Its pectoral fins create a spinning current to stun prey before swallowing them whole. The Wels uses its sharp pectoral fins to generate an eddy that disorients fish before sucking them into its massive mouth.
4. The Wels never stops growing for its entire life, and that life can last 80 years. Unlike most fish that level off in size after a few years, the Wels keeps adding mass and length until it dies.
5. The oldest confirmed Wels fossils are 5.3 million years old, found in Ukraine. The earliest identifiable remains of Silurus glanis come from the late Miocene epoch in what is now Ukraine.
6. Sport anglers smuggled the Wels into Western Europe, where it now dominates rivers it was never meant to enter, while back home it is eaten as a delicacy. A German angler released several thousand Wels fry into Spain’s Ebro River in 1974.
7. The word “wels” shares the same ancient root as the English word “whale.” The name comes from the Old High German “wal,” which traces to the Proto-Germanic root hwalaz, the same source as the English word “whale.”
8. A thriving population of Wels lives inside the Chernobyl exclusion zone. In the abandoned cooling ponds and channels just meters from the decommissioned reactor, a small population of Wels catfish has persisted since the 1986 disaster.
9. The Wels is not globally endangered, but its northern populations have quietly collapsed. The species holds no global threatened status, but in the northern edge of its native range, it has been disappearing for centuries.
#welscatfish #freshwaterfish #catfish #europeanfish #fishfacts
A blunt force journey through the art world. If Bob Ross, Red Green, and Justin Wilson had a love child, it would be The Artistic Biker.
Every morning at 5:30am CT, I get the coffee going, fire up the Random Object Randomizer, and sketch whatever comes out. 30 minutes, no fuss, just the facts—the wildest, weirdest, fun facts you’ve never heard. It’s my morning ritual, and you’re invited.
🎨 WHAT YOU’LL LEARN:
How to sketch almost anything in the time it takes to sip your coffee.
The kind of weird history and science that makes for a great story.
How to get the job done, because chasing “perfect” just wastes good drawing time.
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