This picture has been circulating on Facebook recently and it caught my eye because it’s so colorful and clever. But it’s definitely a hoax, albeit a cute one. But it got me thinking … could there be such a real thing? Oh yes there is! In February of 2009, National Geographic reported the discovery of this previously unknown (to Western science) Freshwater Elephant Fish (photo below right). It lives in the fresh waters of the Congo and they be lieve it uses its snout to sift through the silt on the river bottom for food. Fish biologist Melanie Stiassny said, “The fast currents and raucous rapids of the lower river create physical barriers that smaller fish cannot cross.” The result is that these natural barriers confine populations of fish that over time, evolve into their own new species or sub-species. Sometimes these unique species are found just a few hundred meters (few hundred yards) apart from each other. Biologist Stiassny collected DNA samples from th...
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