Mertens and Gudgeon

[SteveNT]

Just did a quick trip to the Daly River. There were V. mertensi at almost every creek crossing including this fella who was happy to pose for a photo.

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his home at Anniversary Creek

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Heavy rain last night meant mist rising from the bush to join the clouds this morning. Very pretty.

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I dropped a cherubin pot in the Robin Falls Creek for 5 minutes to get some dinner for X (the file snake) and got 2 purple spotted gudgeons, 4 reticulated Glassfish and a black striped rainbow. (amazing how everyone loves a bit of roast chook).

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First X checked out the gudgeons but they're a bit bigger than his usual goldfish. Then Prawn Boy decided to check out the gudgeons too. (no doubt thinking it was chicken).

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So now I'm having a beer and watching who will eat who? (just checked- X has downed 2 glassfish already).

 

[Shotta]

niice pics loving the file snake and that prawn did you get him from a petshop or did you catch it? i would love to get a few of them

 

[SteveNT]

niice pics loving the file snake and that prawn did you get him from a petshop or did you catch it? i would love to get a few of them

Prawn Boy is a cherubin I caught in a throw net a few months ago while collecting chequered rainbows for X. He is colouring up nicely and has doubled in size. He likes to pick at shedding spots on the file snake and shows no fear of him. (may not last much longer if he keeps it up )

 

[nintendont]

this may be a dumb question but do file snakes swallow their meal underwater or do they go to the surface to eat?

 

[SteveNT]

Underwater. In a 10th of a second they are half way down it's body.

 

[Renenet]

That V. mertensi is a beauty, Steve.

 

[SteveNT]

That V. mertensi is a beauty, Steve.

Yea it is sooooo good to see them back. Still waiting for frillies, blue tongues, v panoptes and so on. The reports are of slow returns except bluies. And I've never seen fewer and smaller cane toads than this Wet. May the trends continue.