Europe's Wels catfish has to be one of the most intriguing freshwater fish in the world. Individuals can grow to monstrous sizes, proven to measure as long as nine feet and weigh 400 pounds or more in rare circumstances. They've even been repeatedly seen beaching themselves to capture and consume pigeons dawdling on the shores of lakes and rivers. Now, a team of biologists based out of Linnaeus University in Sweden reports that catfish in the Nordic country are living 70 years or longer.
To determine the creatures' ages, the researchers captured, marked, and released 1,183 Wels catfish from lakes and rivers in southern Sweden between 2006 and 2020. Over that span, they recaptured 162 individuals, allowing them to estimate the catfish's growth rate. They then plugged this rate into an established statistical model specifically created to estimate length and age for fish.
"Our estimates suggest that individuals in [Sweden] with a length of around 100 cm were about 25 years old while a 150 cm long fish was about 40 years old, which is about four times older than in catfish from the core habitat in central Europe," they wrote.
The sizable disparity in lifespan almost certainly stems from Swedish fishes' comparatively sluggish growth rates, the researchers said. Animals that grow more quickly tend to live shorter than animals which grow more slowly. [...]
The researchers don't believe that Wels catfish in Sweden have less access to food compared to their mainlaind European counterparts, which could have explained the difference in growth rates. Rather, they think the difference is due to colder water temperatures.
Journal Reference:
Bergström, K., Nordahl, O., Söderling, P. et al. Exceptional longevity in northern peripheral populations of Wels catfish (Siluris glanis) [open]. Sci Rep 12, 8070 (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-12165-w
(Score: 0, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 26 2022, @11:18PM (7 children)
Them swedskies need to stop viking around, stuffing their pie hole with rotten cods.
Instead, catch them catfish and eat them - you fillet'em, coat'em in cornmeal batter, and deep-fry them in crisco. Since you've got a pot of boiling fat, make some hushpuppiies while you are at it. Catfish and hushpuppies, wash it down with coke. Or beer. Or vodca. You call.
Ask your friendly cajun neighbors for tips and advices.
And there, them catfish won't live so long no mo.
(Score: 3, Informative) by looorg on Thursday May 26 2022, @11:47PM (5 children)
I don't recall anyone eating rotten cod. Fermented herring is an acquired taste and delicacy tho, or so they tell you after you stop heaving and/or vomiting from the stench. Teargas had/has a more pleasant smell and experience.
With that in mind I just don't recall any or many eating catfish here; it's mostly cod and herring. Perhaps that is why they live so long, nobody wants to eat them. Not even sure if they would go into fish-sticks.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 27 2022, @12:05AM
Rotten herring, rotten cod, what, we splitting hairs here?
Fucking nazis...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 27 2022, @12:18AM
They don't. The flesh is too watery, not flakey like cods and pollocks.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 27 2022, @03:51AM (2 children)
Probably talking about lutefisk [wikipedia.org]. It isn't rotten, it's pickled. It's... not delicious, but it's not terrible either, if prepared correctly.
(Score: 1) by pTamok on Friday May 27 2022, @08:16AM (1 child)
Well, in the same way that cheese is rotten milk, "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rakfisk">råkfisk [soylentnews.org] is rotten* trout (or char can be used also), and one of many fermented fish products [wikipedia.org] found in the world's cuisine.
Lutefisk isn't fermented. It is air-dried and treated with lye.
*To be fair, the preservation process prevents ordinary rotting.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by pTamok on Friday May 27 2022, @09:06AM
Sorry about the formatting and spelling mistake.
Link is Rakfisk [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 1) by pTamok on Friday May 27 2022, @09:11AM
Cajuns eat catfish with deep fried shoes [wikipedia.org]!?
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 26 2022, @11:32PM (7 children)
I know they say it is a "standard model," and I'm sure a lot more people who are a lot more informed than me have weighed in. I'm still very hesitant to extrapolate from 15-years of data the 70-year implications of something.
See also: mandatory XKCD [xkcd.com]. Alternatively, consider the Challenger shuttle disaster and what happened when people extrapolated the behavior of the O-rings outside of tested specs.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 27 2022, @12:53AM (1 child)
a search for strapolate sent me to xxxvideo
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 27 2022, @01:06AM
Yous make me sick.
At least put out the link.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 27 2022, @03:53AM (4 children)
They said it would probably blow up, and it did. Management just decided not to believe them.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by PiMuNu on Friday May 27 2022, @01:25PM (3 children)
My recollection is that they said that it *probably* would not blow up. Management chose to interpret that as it *definitely* would not blow up.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Freeman on Friday May 27 2022, @02:11PM (2 children)
They said both:
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Freeman on Friday May 27 2022, @02:15PM
Forgot to include the wikipedia link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Boisjoly [wikipedia.org]
Interestingly enough, that detail is left to the page about the guy as opposed to the page on the Challenger Shuttle.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by PiMuNu on Friday May 27 2022, @03:58PM
Thanks. Nice quotes.
(Score: 4, Funny) by Barenflimski on Friday May 27 2022, @01:08AM (1 child)
Don't they have really good Health Care in Sweden?
Maybe less anti-depressants in the water?
Just spit-balling here.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 27 2022, @02:07PM
Could be viagra in the water but that would be hard to prove.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 27 2022, @10:47AM
... don't you think?