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CLIMBING CATFISH IN ANDES STREAMS The discovery of a climbing catfish in tlie Andes Mountains is described by K. D. O. Johnson of Bolivia. Johnson was working there installing a hydro-electrie plant for placer mining of gold, when one of the fish was caught in a small pot hole made hy the falling water. The fish was placed in a small water-filled crevice, but disappeared. Later two fish were caught and taken to camp in a dinner pail and then turned into a three-gallon bucket. They, too, disappeared when no one was looking. Then Johnson caught some and watched them climb out of a galvanized pail. Later iie placed them, iu a glass jar to watch them in action. They climb out by the combined action of two sucking mechanisms. One of these is the ordinary sucker mouth, surrounded by a soft flap,, thin anil flexible at the edges. The other is a. bony structure where the ventral fins are attached" on the under side of the fish. These fins are broad and flat and their surface is studded with small, sharp teeth. These fins may be moved to a distance equal to one-sixth the length of the. fish, and with them it is able to create a suction pressure. On another occasion fish in a large hole were able to climb eighteen feet in half an hour out of a huge pot hole. The fish live iu torrential streams, where it is absolutely necessary that they anchor themseves at times to prevent being swept: away. They even surmount great falls in the Santa Rita creek by the use of their suction climbers.
