It's not some kind of
Lovecraft-inspired horror, although it was dug up from out of the ground. It is a buchere, or armored catfish, which turned up in excavations in 2011. We actually found two of the fish in one of our excavations, and another one scampering along in the woods. Buchere survive the dry season in Mojos by looking for mud puddles, and they can "walk" on their fins to find another damp spot. Because we were excavating in the ring ditch at Estancita Island, the location was just right for a buchere to spend the winter. Even a small difference in elevation changes the drainage pattern, and therefore the habits of plants and animals.
Wow - that's a cool fish, and sort of creepy
ReplyDeleteIt's kind of prehistoric-looking because it has scales instead of fins. My fish biologist friend says it's not a true lungfish, but it does have the ability to survive in water without much oxygen, and sort of slither around from one pool of muddy water to another.
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