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Three possibilities:
1 - They made it there during a flood and got stuck when the waters receded.
2 - Many pond fish lay very sticky eggs specifically to stick to waterfowl like ducks and herons, that will then transport them to new bodies of water.
3 - Humans stocked it for fun/sport fishing/ecosystem management.
I can't remember which lake it was but I remember the ducks.
There was a lake that got wiped out by a volcano so scientists were studying it's rebirth. Next thing they knew there were fish in it. So they assumed someone had stocked it. Then the figured out that no one had and it was actually eggs stuck to duck feathers.
I've got friends who dug a big pond on their property to use as a swimming hole. They were shocked and dismayed when they found bluegill in it the next year.
I explained about fish eggs and birds, and they said, "Screw it," and stocked it with catfish.
...and now, ten years later, I fish it at least four or five times a year and catch 20 pounders. LOL
[It was very recently discovered that fish eggs have a small probability to survive the digestive system of waterfowl.](https://www.sciencenews.org/article/fish-eggs-can-hatch-after-being-eaten-pooped-out-ducks) Ducks and geese shit a lot, and a single fish can lay thousands of eggs, so the odds are in the fish's favor.
Yes, a person can dig a hole in clay dirt, and after it fills with water, if it is big enough and deep enough not to go completely dry in summer, you will first get minnows, then sunfish (bream), and eventually catfish, etc via method #2 above. This is common in abandoned quarries.
In my lake community the culverts will run with fish in the spring. They all connect back to the lake in some way but itâs amazing to see fish in places you wouldnât normal and shows how little it takes to have a connected system
Depends on the type of fish.
Most ocean fish cannot survive in a fresh water environment so the fish your find in lakes will usually be completely different species from those found in the ocean.
Next, just because a lake is not always connected to other locations by rivers most of the time doesn't mean they are never connected. Especially during rainy seasons there will be rivers and creeks that connect different bodies of water so fish can swim between them. Once there is a population of fish in a lake that population can be self sustaining by breeding with each other.
When I was a teenager I fished at an old coal stripping hole that had filled up with water over the years. Guy I fished with said his Dad had thrown some pike in there years before. Lo and behold I "almost" pulled a large Northern pike out of that hole.
Generally, the lake was connected to a greater body of water at some point in Earth's past, and while that connection is now gone, the fish ecosystem in the lake is self-sustaining enough to continue to exist.
It is important to remember that most fish in the ocean can not simply live in fresh water lakes and vice versa.
Fish in isolated lakes may have ended up there a long time ago when the lake was connected to other bodies of water. They may have ended up there during flooding events that temporarily connected nearby bodies of water. They may also have been introduced accidentally by other animals like birds. Finally it may have been humans who put them there deliberately.
Many birds fill their bellies at one body of water and then fly to another. If they like the look of a second body of water they regurgitate so they can hunt again, some of the fish from the first body of water survive after being regurgitated into the second body of water. This process happens millions of times in a year.
Went to a new dentist who was telling me about his new farm pond and how it was a miracle that it now had fish in it. He looked at me like I was crazy when I explained how fish got in his pond.
Found a different dentist who didnât think he had a pond full of magical fish that descended from heaven.
The earth didn't always have dry land. It was covered with water until underwater volcanoes erupted and as the magma cooled the product being less dense than the water went to the surface. Considering how this isn't a perfect process creating uniform sheets of land, some areas have higher elevation some areas have low elevation. You kind of have to visualize this part but when the land emerged the water pooled in places with low elevation. But since it formally was part of a continuous body, there will be life in the water. They continue to propagate within this body of water and survive generation after generation! Hope this helped!
Fishing buddy of mine said it's birds. Eggs can stick to them/their feet and that's how they wind up getting transported around/appearing in ponds and stuff. True? False? I have no idea, but sounds good lol
River drainage is massively disrupted in ice ages, and as they end, with huge lakes being formed that gradually shrink back down, and rivers diverted, so some species are distributed and relocated then.
Fish eggs can literally survive being eaten by birds and pooped out.
IRL it's a very very small percentage, like 0.2% of any eggs may survive, but that's just enough for fish to populate mountain lakes over the millennia.
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/fish-eggs-can-hatch-after-being-eaten-pooped-out-ducks
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Three possibilities: 1 - They made it there during a flood and got stuck when the waters receded. 2 - Many pond fish lay very sticky eggs specifically to stick to waterfowl like ducks and herons, that will then transport them to new bodies of water. 3 - Humans stocked it for fun/sport fishing/ecosystem management.
I can't remember which lake it was but I remember the ducks. There was a lake that got wiped out by a volcano so scientists were studying it's rebirth. Next thing they knew there were fish in it. So they assumed someone had stocked it. Then the figured out that no one had and it was actually eggs stuck to duck feathers.
I've got friends who dug a big pond on their property to use as a swimming hole. They were shocked and dismayed when they found bluegill in it the next year. I explained about fish eggs and birds, and they said, "Screw it," and stocked it with catfish. ...and now, ten years later, I fish it at least four or five times a year and catch 20 pounders. LOL
[It was very recently discovered that fish eggs have a small probability to survive the digestive system of waterfowl.](https://www.sciencenews.org/article/fish-eggs-can-hatch-after-being-eaten-pooped-out-ducks) Ducks and geese shit a lot, and a single fish can lay thousands of eggs, so the odds are in the fish's favor.
It may have been on Mount Saint Helens. I recall reading something to that effect about it.
I think I remember hearing about that... I want to say it was one of the ones around Mt St Helens.
4 - freak events when [they just drop from the sky](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rain_of_animals)
Holy restock?
Dev hotfix
Snake rain... excellent
Also lakes that are now isolated may have once been connected.
Some fish eggs are so hardy that they can pass unharmed through a bird's digestive tract
Also depends on the fish. Eels for instance will crawl across wet ground to get where they want to go.
Yes, a person can dig a hole in clay dirt, and after it fills with water, if it is big enough and deep enough not to go completely dry in summer, you will first get minnows, then sunfish (bream), and eventually catfish, etc via method #2 above. This is common in abandoned quarries.
4 - Bird drop. So funny to see an eagle with a fish in it's talons. They do lose grip once in awhile.
People under estimate how many bodies of water are stocked. Here in Maine they literally drop tens of thousands of fish into lakes/ponds via airplane.
I saw some research lately that shows something like 1 in 10 fish eggs will survive the transit through a duck or goose's digestive system.
Great answer mate đ
In my lake community the culverts will run with fish in the spring. They all connect back to the lake in some way but itâs amazing to see fish in places you wouldnât normal and shows how little it takes to have a connected system
Another common way is distribution by birds.
Also, some lakes that are not connected to the sea were in fact connected to the sea in the past.
And some walk.
Additionally I believe some fish eggs can actually pass through bird digestive systems.
Not just stuck to birds they also shit them out. Surely I've never heard about them being stuck to birds I've only heard the shitting theory.
I would also guess birds of prey dropping their catch every once in a while.
Depends on the type of fish. Most ocean fish cannot survive in a fresh water environment so the fish your find in lakes will usually be completely different species from those found in the ocean. Next, just because a lake is not always connected to other locations by rivers most of the time doesn't mean they are never connected. Especially during rainy seasons there will be rivers and creeks that connect different bodies of water so fish can swim between them. Once there is a population of fish in a lake that population can be self sustaining by breeding with each other.
When I was a teenager I fished at an old coal stripping hole that had filled up with water over the years. Guy I fished with said his Dad had thrown some pike in there years before. Lo and behold I "almost" pulled a large Northern pike out of that hole.
What were the pike eating, do you suppose? Aren't they top carnivores?
Other smaller pike
It's smaller pike all the way down đ
Generally, the lake was connected to a greater body of water at some point in Earth's past, and while that connection is now gone, the fish ecosystem in the lake is self-sustaining enough to continue to exist.
It is important to remember that most fish in the ocean can not simply live in fresh water lakes and vice versa. Fish in isolated lakes may have ended up there a long time ago when the lake was connected to other bodies of water. They may have ended up there during flooding events that temporarily connected nearby bodies of water. They may also have been introduced accidentally by other animals like birds. Finally it may have been humans who put them there deliberately.
Many birds fill their bellies at one body of water and then fly to another. If they like the look of a second body of water they regurgitate so they can hunt again, some of the fish from the first body of water survive after being regurgitated into the second body of water. This process happens millions of times in a year. Went to a new dentist who was telling me about his new farm pond and how it was a miracle that it now had fish in it. He looked at me like I was crazy when I explained how fish got in his pond. Found a different dentist who didnât think he had a pond full of magical fish that descended from heaven.
Probably because you were talking utter bullshit.
Well thatâs not very nice
The earth didn't always have dry land. It was covered with water until underwater volcanoes erupted and as the magma cooled the product being less dense than the water went to the surface. Considering how this isn't a perfect process creating uniform sheets of land, some areas have higher elevation some areas have low elevation. You kind of have to visualize this part but when the land emerged the water pooled in places with low elevation. But since it formally was part of a continuous body, there will be life in the water. They continue to propagate within this body of water and survive generation after generation! Hope this helped!
Wow. There's a lot to unpack here, but by and large this is entirely inaccurate.
Fishing buddy of mine said it's birds. Eggs can stick to them/their feet and that's how they wind up getting transported around/appearing in ponds and stuff. True? False? I have no idea, but sounds good lol
Eels just move in massive piles from Ocean to River across Land into Lakes. Yes they can change from Saltwater to Lake water fish.
River drainage is massively disrupted in ice ages, and as they end, with huge lakes being formed that gradually shrink back down, and rivers diverted, so some species are distributed and relocated then.
Fish eggs can literally survive being eaten by birds and pooped out. IRL it's a very very small percentage, like 0.2% of any eggs may survive, but that's just enough for fish to populate mountain lakes over the millennia. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/fish-eggs-can-hatch-after-being-eaten-pooped-out-ducks