A Catfish that eats WOOD？ 吃木头的鲶鱼.doc

A Catfish that eats WOOD? 吃木头的鲶鱼 ? We all know that termites（白蚁eat wood. But a catfish（鲶鱼? That’s right. Scientists recently captured the first live specimens of a wood-eating armored（披甲的catfish in Peru, a species only known previously from dried skins from fish that the indigenous（本地的people had shot and skinned. Having live specimens allows scientists to do genetic analyses and more fully study and document the species. And how - what a weird creature! Catching a fish that doesn’t eat so-called traditional fish food proved challenging. You can’t use hook and line, since they wouldn’t be attracted to a worm or spinner. “We use cast nest in areas with rapids（急流with fast water where there are rocky outcrops (岩石）露头and log jams,” explains Petry. “That seems to be the preferred habitat（栖息地of the wood eating catfish. Gillnets（以刺网捕鱼are set along the river channels over night to capture any species that moves around.” Turns out there are actually ten wood-eating catfish of the genus Panaque, which this new species is also a member of. All have spoon-shaped teeth that allow them to scrape wood off of rotting logs and wood in rivers and all live within the Amazon, though some are more widely distributed and others live only in extremely limited areas. The Amazon and its tributaries（支流have an incredibly high biodiversity（生物多样性of freshwater fishes. Over 4,700 species are known in South America, and scientists discover an average of 100 new species per year. As quickly as theyre discovered, many are disappearing - recall last Octobers post, The untold loss of river mega-fish, an untold story? Have you been to the Amazon rainforest? What do you think of these mega-fish? Have?any animals with weird feeding habits surprised you? 【Notes】 Indigenous：adj. 本地的, 土生土长的, 天生的 Indians were the indigenous inhabitants of America. 印第安人是美洲的土著居民。 The indigenous population was soon displaced by the settlers. 没过多久，外来移民就把当地人赶出了家园。 Tributariesadj. 纳贡的, 从属的, 补助的n. 纳贡者, 属国, 支流 A tributary colony.