Nine Reasons Why Fish Jump
Posted by Meggs | Fishing and Boating Posts | Posted on November 11th, 2009
Greetings all,
I’ve just come back from fishing down at Lambeth Park along the Georges River in south western Sydney after chasing some bream. I managed a couple of small fish but didn’t get anything of any size and I burleyed the water with a mixture of bread, prawn heads, oyster shells, sand and salt water for a few hours all to no avail.
Whilst I was there I did notice that there was a lot of activity at certain times with fish jumping out of the water left right and centre so I thought a good topic for discussion would be to try and explain why fish jump. When you think about it all manner of fish jump out of water – everything from your humble goldfish in your freshwater tank to whales. There’s not too many whales in the Georges River and thankfully no goldfish either but still the likes of mullet and bream put on a show from time time jumping out of the water when you least expect it. So why is this so?
Ok, there are several schools of thought….
Some marine biologists believe that some species of fish jump out of the water to help them loosen their eggs prior to spawning (eg the salmon) or to get rid of certain parasites like sea lice or suckers like remoras. Another popular belief is that jumping out of the water and crashing back down is a great way for a fish to scratch itself! Some fish eg Coral Trout rush out of the water as part of their mateship and courtship ritual and some scientists even believe that such behaviour in larger fish may be due to the assertion of dominance amongst a school to attract a mate.
A popular reason for jumping fish is that some fish feed on insects that lie on top of of the water and when they see them they jump out of the water to catch them. This theory obviously has some merit as there a number of fish including trout that feed in this manner.
Of course some fish jump to move away from predators and this is a common sight when you are fishing offshore with both prey and predators jumping in and out of the water in a battle for survival.
But for me there is one major reason why certain fish jump out of water – it’s because they can! The higher up the food chain you go the ability for creatures to run around and have fun and expel excess energy by exertion through running, jumping or playing is commonplace. I firmly believe that most of the fish I see in the Georges River jumping are simply enjoying themselves being a fish.
In some places in the world jumping fish can be quite dangerous. Remember there was a fatality a few years back when a woman was struck by a stingray when it jumped out of the water and struck her whilst she was on a boat that was powering through the water in the Florida Keys.
The final reason as to why a fish would jump is so that it can get away from a disturbance in the water. When the population of fish is so dense that it is impossible for them to make headway jumping seems an easier alternative. Some leaping fish are serial pests and lets hope we never experience a carp invasion in the Georges River like the one below in Illinois….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jb8OmEr7VqI
Sea you later,
Skipper Meggs
I’m getting a lot of enquiries about leaping Gold Fish! I personally believe they jump because their environment is too crowded and there is not enough room for them – similar to the carp above.