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What happens to fish when they go over waterfalls?

Freefall into water is generally not a problem for a light, streamlined fish, but it all depends on the type and scale of the waterfall.

Vandana Gupta

Asked by: Toby Ellis, by email

It depends on the waterfall. Fish bodies are streamlined and relatively light so a long fall into water isn’t usually a problem. Niagara River expert, Wes Hill, estimates that 90 per cent of fish survive the drop over Niagara Falls. But a waterfall that cascades over rocks, such as Yosemite Falls, will be fatal to all but the smallest fish.

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The rock-climbing fish lives in Nanue Falls on Hawaii's Hamakua Coast (pictured).

How Fish Evolved to Climb Waterfalls With Their Mouths

Hawaiian fish uses same mechanism to climb and eat, study says.

When it comes to climbing waterfalls, the Nopili rock-climbing goby really puts its teeth into it.

The inch-long (2.5 centimeter) fish uses suckers in its mouth and belly to move up steep cliffs in its rugged Hawaiian habitat. (Related "pictures: "'Walking' Fish a Model of Evolution in Action." )

Because its freshwater habitat is easily disturbed—by a big storm, for instance—the fish often crawl up waterfalls to return upstream.

But how this odd creature evolved to trek vertical distances of up to a hundred feet (30 meters)—the energetic equivalent of a person running a marathon—was unknown, said Richard Blob , an evolutionary biologist at Clemson University.

Now, a new paper by Blob and colleagues in the journal PLOS ONE shows that the fish uses the same movements to climb as it does to eat algae.

Before Blob and his student team could study the fish, however, they had to catch one. That proved a bit tricky. For instance, a goby would watch as a wetsuited scientist, struggling against the current, inched closer—and then would scoot away. "You don't want to attach too much personality to these animals," but they almost had a mocking expression, Blob said with a laugh.

When enough fish were eventually caught, they were taken to a field laboratory in Hawaii. There the scientists filmed them feeding on algae-covered glass and—stimulated by falling water—climbing. "They'd climb up a garden hose if you gave it to them," Blob quipped. (Also see pictures: "Nine Fish With 'Hands' Found to Be New Species." )

By watching videos of both behaviors, the team concluded that the fish uses the same overall movements. For instance, the angle and distance at which the front part of the upper jaw protrudes are nearly identical during both behaviors.

This suggests that, at some point in its evolution, the Nopili rock-climbing goby repurposed one behavior for another—a known evolutionary phenomenon known as exaptation, in which a species will "take a structure or behavior and co-opt to do something totally different."

The Nopili rock-climbing goby has two suckers for climbing.

The classic example of exaptation is bird feathers, said Blob, "which may have evolved as an insulation structure before they were co-opted, or exapted, with some evolutionary changes for use in flight."

Though it's still unknown which behavior came first, the end result is a perfectly adapted fish.

"How finely tuned these fish are to this habitat is just amazing," said Blob.

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Why fish jump and how they do it

Science Why fish jump and how they do it

Have you ever wandered along the banks of a river and suddenly, out of the corner of your eye, you see a fish leap out of the water?

As they plop back in, do you wonder how on earth do these leg-less creatures manage to jump — and why?

Key points:

• Apart from swimming, fish are also known to jump, glide, squiggle and even do multiple somersaults in the air
• Escaping predators, chasing food, getting over barriers and getting spooked among the reasons why they do this
• Bending their body into a C or S shape can help them spring forward in water or even on land

It turns out fish get around in a whole lot of ways other than swimming — apart from jumping, they can glide, squiggle and even flip on their tail and do multiple somersaults in the air.

A fish can contort its muscular body and use its fins in all kinds of imaginative ways to become airborne, said biomechanist Miriam Ashley-Ross of Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

And here are six reasons why they bother.

To get over something in their way

A salmon heading upstream to spawn can leap up more than three metres to scale a waterfall.

To do this, the fish does a vertical swim-and-jump out of the water, Professor Ashley-Ross said.

It points its head in the direction it wants to go while flexing the back part of its body into a tight S-shape.

"Their tail is over to one side and that allows them to generate a lot of thrust backwards and to the other side, against the water as they sweep their tail," she said.

"They beat their tail back and forth as they ascend through the water column until they've left the water."

This is also a useful technique for fish that want to leap out of the water vertically to catch an insect overhead.

To avoid becoming someone else's lunch

Fish have to avoid being eaten by bigger fish and one way to do this is to confuse the predator by leaping out of the water and ending up — well, who knows where.

In response to sensing a predator, fish have a primitive response that enables them to launch from a standing start.

They bend backwards over their tail, forming a C-shape, and then flick themselves forward, Professor Ashley Ross said.

To add to their fast getaway they can then swim in an upward direction by paddling with their fins as quickly as possible.

"The whole body is undulating and you get these waves that sweep from the head towards the tail," she said.

When they break the water surface, the fish end up jumping in a long arc, splashing back down some distance away. The predator won't know where.

"One second the fish is there and the next second it's dodged the predator," says fish ecologist Professor Iain Suthers of the University of New South Wales.

He says this can be useful knowledge when you want to catch fish.

"If you're out fishing and see a little school of fish jump out there's a good chance if you cast your lure into them you'll catch the big predator fish like a tailor or a yellow-tailed kingfish."

Flying fish, often pursued by giant mackerel, tuna, swordfish or marlin, excel at escape.

They can stay airborne for much longer than other fish because they use their extra long wing-like front fins to glide slowly back down to the water.

Professor Suthers — who describes fish as "packet of muscle with a giant propeller" — says as a flying fish becomes airborne, the lower lobe of its tail can give it an extra push by flicking against the water, forming a wiggly line as it does.

Because they're spooked

Fish can be nervy creatures, and they are often seen jumping because they get spooked by boats.

One fish jumping can set off a chain reaction and spook other fish — as seen in footage of a river full Asian carp jumping en masse in the US.

Asian carp is an introduced fish that is now clogging up areas of the Great Lakes.

Jumping fish can be dangerous too.

Recently a woman on a boat in the Northern Territory had a close encounter with a 10-kilogram, metre-long mackerel that launched itself out of the ocean and flew past her, slicing her neck.

The mackerel fell into the boat and died but luckily the woman survived the incident.

To catch dinner

In the northern tropical rivers of Australia lurks the 60-centimetre Saratoga fish — the Australian Arowana — that has Jurassic heritage.

"It has a very large mouth and is a voracious predator," says Professor Suthers.

"It is renowned for leaping out of the water to capture frogs and small birds on branches over the river."

Another case of acrobatics to get dinner has been shown in a study of long toms (needlefishes) who sneak up on unsuspecting schools of small fish using an aerial attack.

Because of the way water bends light, the prey can only see above them through a circle of light, surrounded by darkness.

The circle, called Snell's window, which has been described as an 'optical man-hole', gives the needlefish convenient access to its prey.

"They lurk about three to four metres away from the smaller fish, in the darkened area, and will leap up out of the water and plop into the middle of the circle," says Professor Suthers.

To get around on land

Sometimes fish leap all the way out of water onto land.

And while they don't actually have feet, the fish that do this can use their fins and tail to squiggle around.

But jumping is certainly a more efficient and more comfortable way to get around — especially on rough rocks.

"It's a lot faster and results in a lot less abrasion on their bodies," says Professor Ashley-Ross.

Take the tiny mangrove killfish (also called the mangrove rivulus) from the Americas, which gets out of the water to chase food or escape predators or rotten egg gas in water that's turned toxic.

Once on land it can jump around by doing what's called a tail-flip.

Like the aquatic standing start, this trick starts with a backbend over the tail, but the hard surface it's on then helps the fish spring off its tail.

Professor Ashley-Ross said the fish could flip six to 10 body lengths and survive out of water for at least 66 days, so long as it's kept moist (so it can still breathe through its gills).

Another amphibious fish is the mudskipper, which gets around on land using a process called "crutching".

"They hold the body very straight and move their pectoral fins and pelvic fins like someone using crutches," she says.

But they can also jump up to 50 centimetres off the ground to attract the attention of a mate.

While we're out of the water, the Pacific leaping blenny is another interesting fish that jumps to get around quickly.

It spends its whole adult life in the splash zone along the rocks but doesn't like getting too wet, says Dr Terry Ord of the University of New South Wales who studies them.

It will jump to avoid being hit by a crashing wave, preferring to keep moist from the gentle rain of sea spray, he says.

To get to a better place

Just like how the mangrove killfish gets out of the water to escape toxic smelly water, other fish will also jump to get to a better place.

"They will jump to get out, optimistically hoping that they will land somewhere better," says Professor Suthers.

This includes jumping out of your fish tank, and is a good reason to keep your tank nice and clean.

"Unless you've got a lid on the tank they will jump out and land splat on the floor," he says.

"Eels are legendary for escaping tanks — they can jump out of the tank and be in your living room or on your kitchen floor, wriggling around in the dust until you find them."

Fish also jump out of tanks to chase food or because they're looking for a mate.

What about jumping for joy?

Many scientists think whales — which are marine mammals — jump for joy but there's no evidence fish do it, says Professor Suthers.

Whales are also believed to jump to get rid of parasites as they splash back into the water.

"We don't know if fish do the same," he says.

Professor Ashley-Ross doubts fish are big enough for their splash to get rid of their unwelcome company.

But there might be some truth to that old song that Ella Fitzgerald sang so well about "Summertime…" being when the "fish are jumpin'".

After all, fish are cold-blooded so in summer, when the temperature of the water is warmer, they can become more active.

And there are also more insects and other food around — so more incentive to get jumpin'!

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The Fish That Climbs Waterfalls With Its Mouth

Hawaii's environmental extremes (read: a series of active volcanic islands isolated in the middle of the ocean) make it a hotbed of novel evolutionary adaptations. Take goby fish in the genus Sicyopterus , for example. These lowly little bottom-feeders spend their days sucking algae off the rocks of stream beds. But that same sucking mechanism also allows the fish to climb up waterfalls over 300 feet tall.

The question is how these two activities are related. The researchers say it may be an example of exaptation , which describes the situation when a trait evolves for one reason, but eventually serves another purpose. Feathers, for example, are thought to have originally evolved to keep birds warm, but then later became a means for these creatures to fly.

In the case of the goby fish, its sucker mouth may have originated as a feeding mechanism, but later became a mode of locomotion as well. Or perhaps the other way around.

Researchers can't pin down the evolutionary precursor from their study , which was published in PLOS One last week. Goby fish lay their eggs in freshwater streams, and once they hatch, the tiny gobies are swept out to sea. Here the fish mature without threats of lava flows, hurricanes or flash floods. Gobies spend their lives climbing back up streams and over waterfalls to start the process over again.

Most goby species accomplish this feat with a sucker on their stomachs, but those in the Sicyopterus genus inch their way up the vertical rocks by alternating between their stomach sucker and their mouth. Researchers studied the specific movements of the mouth involved in eating and waterfall-climbing and found that the two behaviors were closely related. Even if scientists can't pin down which came first, the fact that this fish can suck its way up a waterfall is still pretty fun to watch.

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Determined Fish Climb Waterfalls With Special Sucker Mouths

One goby species in Hawaii uses its suction-cup mouth for both feeding and scaling walls, presenting an evolutionary chicken-or-egg conundrum

Rachel Nuwer

Species evolve extreme adaptations to contend with the rigors of their environment. Microbes thrive in Yellowstone’s boiling springs ; kangaroo rats can live without ever taking a sip of water in the scorching U.S. Southwest; monarch butterflies can journey 3,000 miles just to enjoy a bit of Mexican sun. And to colonize new habitats, determined little fish climb their way up Hawaiian waterfalls with their suction-cup mouths, like reverse wall ball toys .

This superhero-like fish, the Nopili rock-climbing goby , are members of the Gobiidae family. Gobies are one of the largest fish families in the world, with around 2,000 species sharing the nomenclature. Many live in streams on volcanic islands like Hawaii, where life isn’t easy for these small, versatile fishes. Their stream homes are often subjected to lava flows, hurricanes and flash floods—and yet still the gobies persist. After a landslide creates vertical obstacles or a storm reworks the flow of water, those tenacious fishes inevitably turn up in the new upstream habitat, even if it’s separated from downstream areas by steep waterfalls.

To achieve this feat, gobies rely upon their singular evolution. All gobies possess an abdominal sucker, formed millennia ago when ancestral gobies’ pelvic fins fused. To scale waterfalls, most of the fishes use so-called “powerburst” climbing . They attach themselves to the slick wall behind a waterfall using their ventral sucker then rapidly undulate their tails, resulting in a shimmying action that slowly propels their flailing, sucking bodies up the waterfall.

The Nopili rock-climbing goby takes wall sucking to another level, however. Its mouth, located on the underside of its head like a cleaner fish, forms a formidable sucker that it uses to inch its way up waterfalls. Like a mountain climber, it takes turns sticking to the wall with its abdominal and oral suckers, slowly but steadily making its way up the sheer, wet rock. In Hawaii, these fish climb waterfalls up to nearly 330 feet tall.

So how did the Nopili rock-climbing goby pull off this super sucker mouth adaptation, while all of its relatives have to make due with just a measly abdominal sucker? The clue likely lies in the species’ feeding strategy. Most other gobies feed on small invertebrates or other fish, but the Nopili rock-climbing goby prefers to scrape tiny bits of algae, called diatoms, off rocks using a mouth-sucking motion mirroring the same movements it uses to climb walls. For an evolutionary scientist, this begs the question of whether the fish’s mouth first evolved for eating and then shifted to wall sucking, or vice versus. Scientists call this kind of evolutionary co-opting “ exaptations .”

Researchers from Clemson University and Saint Cloud State University wanted to crack this chicken-or-egg puzzle, so they decided to compare the oral mechanisms of feeding versus climbing in the Nopili rock-climbing goby. If the fish uses its mouth in two very different ways for feeding and climbing, then exaptation likely wouldn’t deserve credit for the interesting adaptation. On the other hand, if the same movements were at play for both activities, then the fish may have simply applied a regular activity (feeding or climbing) to a new role.

The researchers donned snorkeling gear and scooped up several wall-sucking gobies from Hakalau stream on Hawaii Island, in 2005 and 2011. They transferred the fish to a lab, where they observed several of their research subjects’ feeding patterns using high-speed video cameras attached to different sides of the aquarium. In another tank, the researchers also created a faux waterfall using Plexiglas situated at a 62-degree angle. They challenged the remaining fish to climb this wall and filmed those fish during their waterfall-scaling exertions.

From the videos, the researchers identified 23 anatomical landmarks involved in feeding and climbing. After statistically analyzing their results, the researchers report in a PLoS One paper published last week that they found that the Nopili rock-climbing goby’s climbing and feeding movements differed significantly. In other words, the fish are using different movements for feeding and for climbing. The differences, however, were small, and some of the behaviors were so similar they could nearly be superimposed. The puzzling combination of similarities and differences stumped the researchers, and they realized that more investigations would be needed before they could definitively tease out the species’ evolutionary history of feeding and sucking.

“However, strict similarity between feeding and climbing kinematics might not be a fair expectation, even if exaptation had occurred,” they write in their paper. “It may not be reasonable to expect patterns for one behavior to remain completely unchanged after being applied to another function.”

Like most things in science, goby evolution is complex and may not prescribe to a clear-cut explanation. “Exaptation with modification” may have to suffice for elucidating the Nopili rock-climbing goby’s unique talents—at least for now.

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Rachel Nuwer | | READ MORE

Rachel Nuwer is a freelance science writer based in Brooklyn.

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What waterfall climbing fish tell us about adaptation, survival and suction cups

Nature is a demanding place to live.

For species to survive, animals must secure food, avoid being eaten themselves and withstand physical and physiological pressures from their environment to live long enough to reproduce.

A group of Clemson University biologists has been studying the biomechanics of waterfall-climbing goby fishes inhabiting oceanic islands as part of an effort to understand how organisms evolve and adapt to survive.

Their research could help humans develop better suction cups.

Learning from nature

“It really comes full circle,” said Rick Blob, alumni professor in the Clemson Department of Biological Sciences, whose lab has been studying the waterfall climbing fish for more than 20 years. “We’re learning from nature and gaining insights about how nature works and how we can help nature persist. But, at the same time, nature is teaching us things we might want to do to help ourselves.”

There are more than 1,000 species of goby fishes. Most live their lives in the ocean, but some are amphidromous and live part of their lives in the freshwater streams of circumtropical oceanic islands.

Those adults live and spawn in freshwater. Upon hatching, larvae are swept downstream to nearshore or ocean habitats. The juveniles live and grow there for up to 10 months before returning to freshwater and breeding habitats further upstream, where they can live and breed for several years.

The journey exposes the gobies, which are usually less than four inches long when fully grown, to various challenges, from evading predators to climbing large waterfalls that are hundreds of meters tall.

“A rough comparison would be a human running a marathon uphill with someone blasting a fire hose at them,” Blob said.

Biomechanics

The researchers use biomechanics to understand how animals perform tasks that are important for their survival. Those tasks are often at odds with each other. In amphidromous gobies, the functions of predator escape and climbing can impose conflicting demands. 

“Being really good at one of those jobs might make you bad at the other one, and that might ultimately lead to failure or extinction if you’re too overly specialized,” Blob said. “One theme of our work is what can we observe in these species that lets us understand how they’ve managed to deal with both of these important jobs.”

Another theme of the lab’s research is how a novel ability emerges in a group of organisms.

Climbing waterfalls is a relatively new skill. Amphidromous gobies have two styles of climbing. 

Power burst climbers use a suction cup on their bellies to wildly move up the rock quickly and then rest. Inching climbers have the belly suction cup, too, but they also use their mouth to form another suction cup to move slowly and steadily up the rock, said Amanda Palecek, a Ph.D. student in Blob’s lab and a co-author of a paper in a recent special issue of the Journal of Experimental Biology that reviewed and synthesized the Blob lab’s two decades of waterfall-climbing goby fish research.

More than one way

“One of the things our research has shown is that there’s actually more than one way to solve a problem. The formal name for this is ‘many-to-one mapping,’ where you have many possible arrangements of the anatomy of the animal — which parts of the body do particular functions — and when you put all those different puzzle pieces together, you still end up with success at the end,” Blob said. “The different styles of climbing are a great example.”

Palecek said the goby’s climbing behavior could have originated from the fish scraping food off rocks. If the rock was vertical instead of horizontal, the fish would have to move vertically to reach it, thus “climbing” the rock.

“Some of these things that seem new and really radical in many cases are something they were already doing. They’re just making it work for a different purpose,” Blob said.

Palecek said she would love to apply what she’s learned about gobies to improve manmade adhesives.

“I’m a big fan of biomimicry — which is taking a trait in nature and applying it to human technology and design. I think everybody has had experience with a really bad suction cup that won’t stick to things after a while,” she said. “Gobies aren’t sticking to really clean, indoor surfaces. They are sticking to dirty, wet and algae-covered surfaces. And they’re able to stick and re-stick. I think the field of adhesives would really benefit from learning more about these fishes and some other species that use similar adhesive structures, such as octopuses.”

Better adhesives

Palecek said if we’re able to make adhesives that work on really challenging surfaces such as human skin or the underside of a boat, or on rough surfaces like brick, society would benefit.

“The problems that these fish have evolved to solve are things that we still struggle with as engineers. It’s a great opportunity to learn from them to figure out better solutions,” Blob said.

Detailed findings from the lab’s research can be found in the paper titled  “Integrating biomechanics in evolutionary studies, with examples from the amphidromous goby model system”   that appeared in the journal’s  “A Century of Comparative Biomechanics: Emerging and Historical Perspectives on an Interdisciplinary Field” issue.

In addition to Blob and Palecek, the paper’s co-authors include three Clemson Ph.D. graduates: Kelly Diamond, Takashi Maie and Kristine Moody. Diamond is now an assistant professor of biology at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee. Maie is an assistant professor of biology at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota. Moody is a research scientist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. 

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Meet the fish that hop, skip and jump

Six compelling reasons why fish perfect their acrobatic skills to leave the water

By Dr Andi Horvath

From the incredible flying fish whose modified pectoral fins allow it to glide up to 70km/h to a wriggling salmon jumping upstream – why do fish choose to leave water?

University of Melbourne fish ecologist Associate Professor Stephen Swearer gives us six reasons.

1. To avoid being lunch

It’s simple – so they won’t be eaten.

“I’ve been on marine research vessels and seen flying fish leap out of the water thinking we might be a big fish predator. They will often glide off at right angles to the boat with incredible speed and manoeuvrability,” says Associate Professor Swearer.

“They do this to get some distance on the predators but also so the predators can’t work out where they will land back in the water. In just a few seconds they can travel up to 50 metres.”

2. To eat lunch

“Another reason fish leap out of water is to capture prey. People may be familiar with trout leaping out of the water to feed on mayflies,” says Associate Professor Swearer.

“While it’s usually birds that dive into water to eat fish, there are some fish, like the arowana which live in the Amazon, that will dive into the air to eat birds.”

Arowana have been found with the remains of birds, bats and snakes as well as crustaceans and insects in their stomachs. They look a bit like Grumpy Cat with their downturned drawbridge mouth that would have no problems grabbing an unsuspecting bird.

3. To reinflate their internal buoyancy vests

“Most bony fish have swim bladders, which are these gas-filled sacs that help the fish control buoyancy in the water,” says Associate Professor Swearer. “It means they can stay at their current depth without having to waste energy swimming.

“The swim bladder progressively loses a little gas so to replenish their bladders, some species will periodically go up to the surface to gulp some air but others will leap to avoid being eaten by birds.”

4. To slap loose a pesky parasite

“There is also some evidence that fish may leap out of the water so they can slap down on the surface of the water to dislodge parasites,” says Associate Professor Swearer. “But more commonly they will take advantage of the services provided by cleaner fish or shrimp.”

5. It’s the only way to go up a waterfall

Fish may be trying to get around obstacles. You may have seen spectacular footage of salmon leaping up over small waterfalls. The easiest way to move past the pounding pressure of the waterfall is to go via the path of least resistance with minimal energy and effort – the air.

6. Some spaces just cramp their style

If you’ve ever kept fish in a tank you’ll know that the odd fish will make a leap for freedom. What motivates this behaviour? Was the tank décor not right? Was it the neighbours? Was it the fish or the owner?

“I spent a summer in high school as an intern at the Waikiki Aquarium in Hawaii,” says Associate Professor Swearer. “All of the tanks needed to be covered to prevent fish from trying to jump out and escape. Clearly being in a confined environment is not a natural situation for a fish. It does, however, make you realize just how aware fish are of their surroundings when in captivity and what risks they are willing to take.”

Associate Professor Swearer is working on several research projects, ranging from rare freshwater species in the Kimberley to salmon aquaculture in Norway.

Scientists learn secret to fish's ability to climb up waterfalls

By Charles Choi

LiveScience

A waterfall-climbing fish in Hawaii uses the same muscles to both rise and feed, researchers have discovered.

Scientists looked at the Nopoli rock-climbing goby (Sicyopterus stimpsoni), also known in Hawaiian as o'opu nopili. This plant-eating fish is found throughout Hawaii, and was once greatly relished as food, apparently being a favorite snack among priests.

Many gobies can inch their way up waterfalls with the aid of a sucker on their bellies formed from fused pelvic fins. The Nopoli rock-climbing goby, on the other hand, can climb waterfalls as tall as 330 feet (100 meters) with the aid of a second mouth sucker, which develops after their mouthparts move from a forward-facing position to under the body during a two-day-long metamorphosis into adulthood .

The goby, which can grow up to 7 inches (18 centimeters) long as an adult, feeds by cyclically sticking the tip of its upper jaw against rock to scrape food off surfaces. This behavior is quite distinct from other Hawaiian gobies, which feed by sucking in food from the water. Given the apparent similarity of the climbing and feeding behaviors of the S. stimpsoni species, researchers thought one might have developed from the other. [ See Video of Waterfall-Climbing Fish ]

"The fish gave us an opportunity to see how unusual behaviors evolved," Blob said.

To see if these behaviors really were as similar as they looked, the scientists captured Nopoli rock-climbing gobies from a stream on the island of Hawaii by net while snorkeling and kept them in aquaria.

They next filmed the gobies' jaw-muscle movements as the fish climbed and ate, either scraping food off glass microscope slides or climbing up angled plastic boards. They found that overall movements were indeed similar during both activities.

It remains uncertain whether feeding movements were adapted for climbing, or vice versa.

"To understand the sequence of steps in the evolution of this extreme behavior, we want to look at closely related species that do one of the behaviors, but not the other," Blob said. "This fish has relatives in many oceanic islands, such as the Caribbean."

The scientists detailed their findings online Friday in the journal PLOS ONE.

They will also present their findings Sunday at the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology annual meeting in San Francisco.

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February 14, 2017

Do fish go over niagara falls, post a comment.

Secret to Fish's Waterfall-Climbing Ability Found

A waterfall-climbing fish in Hawaii uses the same muscles to both rise and feed, researchers have discovered.

Scientists looked at the Nopoli rock-climbing goby ( Sicyopterus stimpsoni ), also known in Hawaiian as o'opu nopili . This plant-eating fish is found throughout Hawaii, and was once greatly relished as food, apparently being a favorite snack among priests.

Many gobies can inch their way up waterfalls with the aid of a sucker on their bellies formed from fused pelvic fins. The Nopoli rock-climbing goby, on the other hand, can climb waterfalls as tall as 330 feet (100 meters) with the aid of a second mouth sucker, which develops after their mouthparts move from a forward-facing position to under the body during a two-day-long metamorphosis into adulthood .

"For a human to go the equivalent distance based on body size, it'd be like doing a marathon, some 26 miles (42 kilometers) long, except climbing up a vertical cliff-face against rushing water," researcher Richard Blob, an evolutionary biomechanist at Clemson University in South Carolina, told LiveScience. Indeed, an old Hawaiian saying is that as the Nopili clings, so will luck.

The goby, which can grow up to 7 inches (18 centimeters) long as an adult, feeds by cyclically sticking the tip of its upper jaw against rock to scrape food off surfaces. This behavior is quite distinct from other Hawaiian gobies, which feed by sucking in food from the water. Given the apparent similarity of the climbing and feeding behaviors of the S. stimpsoni species, researchers thought one might have developed from the other. [ See Video of Waterfall-Climbing Fish ]

To see if these behaviors really were as similar as they looked, the scientists captured Nopoli rock-climbing gobies from a stream on the island of Hawaii by net while snorkeling and kept them in aquaria. They next filmed the gobies' jaw-muscle movements as the fish climbed and ate, either scraping food off glass microscope slides or climbing up angled plastic boards. They found that overall movements were indeed similar during both activities.

It remains uncertain whether feeding movements were adapted for climbing, or vice versa.

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"To understand the sequence of steps in the evolution of this extreme behavior, we want to look at closely related species that do one of the behaviors, but not the other," Blob said. "This fish has relatives in many oceanic islands, such as the Caribbean."

The scientists detailed their findings online Jan. 4 in the journal PLOS ONE . They will also present their findings Jan. 6 at the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology annual meeting in San Francisco.

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• Niagara Falls FAQ: Fishing in the Niagara Region

Niagara Falls Visitors Guide

Niagara Falls Questions

Niagara falls border crossing.

• Which side should I visit (US or Canada)?
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• Can I bring my dog/cat across the border?
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• What are the wait times for border crossing?

Niagara Falls Facts and Figures

• How tall is Niagara Falls?
• Are Niagara Falls the tallest in the world?
• What shape are the Falls?
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• How fast does water fall down Niagara Falls?
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• How loud is Niagara Falls?

Niagara Falls History

• Where did the name ‘Niagara’ come from?
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• Has a boat ever gone over the falls?
• How many people have gone over the falls?
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• How far have the falls moved over time?
• How did they build the first bridge over the Niagara Gorge?

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Visiting niagara falls.

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• What is the closest viewing area at Niagara Falls?

The Niagara River

• How long is the Niagara River?
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• Where is the Niagara River deepest?
• How did the Niagara Whirlpool form?
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• What classes of rapids are in the Niagara River?
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Fishing at Niagara

Do fish go over niagara falls, what types of fish are found in the niagara, where can i fish at niagara, when is fishing season at niagara.

This Comprehensive Niagara Falls Historic Timeline is a part of our Niagara Falls Guide , a comprehensive look at The Falls, top attractions, and other awesome parks in the region, with a focus on photography and nature.

Yes, quite a few of them do.

The rapids above the falls are full of oxygen and nutrients, which is a big draw to fish. Although they are built for swimming in turbulent waters, the rapids above the falls do cause a bit of disorientation. Fish will plummet frequently, most of the time without harm. They may hit rocks along the way or smash into a boulder in the plunge pool, but for the most part they slip right into foamy waters at the base of the falls. Of course at the American Falls the plunge pool is past a gauntlet of deadly boulders. Although it’s less likely for fish to survive this plunge compared to the Horseshoe Falls, the sheer difference in volume of flow ensures that most fish take a dive over the “safer” falls.

Fish have evolved to handle strong pressure from water. Freshwater fish especially are better adapted to getting knocked around streams and rocks. They are very resilient animals. It’s estimated that 90% of the fish that go over Niagara Falls, survive. Still, being stunned from the fall may leave the fish open to predation from the various birds that make the Niagara Gorge below the falls their hunting grounds.

Once they make it down they may be stunned and further disoriented; some even float at the surface for several minutes. This is where the real danger is. The gulls and terns that inhabit the cliffs of the Niagara Gorge have an easy snack if they seize the opportunity.

Once the fish regain their bearings, they head downstream through more rapids and eventually make it to calmer waters. That is if they survive the gauntlet of fishermen at the various parks along the way.

Niagara Falls acts as a natural barrier that prevents fish from downstream ecosystems from easily making it upstream. So the variety of species upstream from the falls is different from downstream. Of course the construction of canals, migration of boats, and human stocking efforts have offset this quite a bit.

Above the Falls you’ll find healthy populations of Lake Erie fish:

• Yellow Perch
• Smallmouth bass
• Largemouth bass
• Muskellunge
• Northern pike

Below the Falls there are usually Lake Ontario species:

• Rainbow trout
• Chinook (King) salmon
• Coho Salmon
• Brown trout
• Channel catfish
• Yellow perch

Carp can be found within the power plant reservoir downstream from the Falls. Numerous other species can be found throughout the length of the river, but numbers may be insignificant.

The Niagara River is considered one of the best Rainbow Trout fisheries in the nation.

The best spot to fish the Niagara is by boat, but there are plenty of options for fishing from land. Here are some options close to the Falls and Whirlpool Rapids.

On the New York side:

Griffon Park , between Cayuga Island and the Love Canal, is a small city park along what is called, the “Little Niagara River.”  Map

Buckhorn Island State Park , on the northern end of Grand Island, is an undeveloped state park preserve consisting mostly of wetland habitat.  Map

Niagara Falls State Park  features a walkway along the rapids upstream from the falls. Caution is urged when fishing near these dangerous rapids.  Map

Whirlpool State Park  allows for fishing from the rocky shore across from the Whirlpool. A stairway leads from the parking lot to a path along the river.   Map

Devil’s Hole State Park  allows for fishing from the rocky shore along the lower Whirlpool Rapids. A stairway leads from the parking lot to a path along the river, or follow the path north from Whirlpool State Park.   Map

New York State Power Authority Reservoir , is 1,900 acres of water trapped behind the Robert Moses Niagara Power Plant in Lewiston is an excellent carp and smallmouth bass fishery.  Map

Earl W. Brydges Artpark State Park , in Lewiston, has two designated fishing access points and a mile of accessible shoreline running south.  Map

Joseph Davis State Park , north of Lewiston, hugs a calmer section of the river.  Map

On the Ontario side:

Dufferin Islands Nature Area , just upstream from the Falls, are 10-acres of protected land along the river. Catch-and-release fishing is allowed here.  Map

The  Niagara River Parkway and Recreational Trail  runs from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario along the Niagara River. Along the way there are numerous parking areas with fishing access .   Map

The Niagara Glen  is a nature reserve surrounding the Whirlpool. It is open to fishing along the scenic rocky shore.   Map

On the New York side

The regulations for the  Upper Niagara  and  Lower Niagara River  are different.  Be sure to obtain the appropriate  license .

On the Ontario side

  Click here  for information on fishing seasons and catch limits for Zones 19 (Lake Erie) and 20 (Lake Ontario). Regulation summaries can be found  here .  Be sure to obtain the appropriate  license  (click here for  non-resident licenses ).

Lower Niagara Species Availability

🐟 = Species present  🚫 = Species present, but month closed (or partially closed)

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Taking the plunge

by Chad Shmukler - Monday, Apr 14th, 2014

The areas below waterfalls, both big and small, can be great places to seek out big trout. This should come as no surprise. Typically referred to as plunge pools, the water that sweeps over falls and into these pools continuously delivers all manner of food to fish waiting below. In areas where the plunging water is pinched or otherwise funneled by the structure of the stream, falls not only deliver food that has swept down from above but also produce a concentrated, high density stream of that food. The turbulent nature of water on the surface of a plunge pool serves to obscure and conceal everything below, providing excellent cover from predators. And despite the turbulent, often violent currents at the surface of these pools, the deep, sometime boulder-filled recesses below offer respite from strong currents.

Don't Pass Them By

Bigger trout push smaller trout out of prime lies. That's the way it goes. So, the fact that these pools offer up a bounty all of a trout's most important needs: cover, food and protection from currents, makes them prime lies. This, in turn, means that they will commonly hold some of the best trout in the stream. Still, I've seen many a fisherman pass them by or ply them only momentarily, put off by the chaotic nature of the water's flow or unwilling to strap on 14 pieces of split shot in order to get their fly down to the fish hiding below.

The first of those two common put-offs is sort of a misconception, as water at the bottom of a plunge pool is typically calm and serene compared to the water above. The second, the inability to get a fly down to the bottom of a plunge pool without bowling balls strapped to your leader, is simply a matter of employing the wrong approach.

Plunge pools, for all of the reasons mentioned thus far, should rarely -- if ever -- be passed over.

Accessing the Plunge Pool

The instinct of most, but certainly not all, fly fisherman when fishing plunge pools seems to be to cast into the bubbling, turbulent water below the falls. Often, these casts are delivered right to where the plunging water meets the surface below. As experience will eventually reveal, this is the hardest place at which to attempt to deliver a fly to the water below.

The boiling water below a waterfall is just so because of air, swept below by the diving water, rising back to the surface. The result is a strong upcurrent which virtually any normal nymph rig will be powerless to resist. Casting into this area will result in little more than a fly that never travels far from the surface and one that is obscured by the rough, agitated water.

More Like This

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• Tips for fly fishing lakes

Thankfully, getting your flies down into prime lies in plunge pools doesn't require elaborate, heavily weighted rigs. Instead of delivering the fly into the tempestuous water at the bottom of the plunge, cast directly into the plunge or just above the plunge. Just as the air that boils back to the surface is swept to the bottom of the pool, so too will your fly be, hopefully right into the field of vision of waiting fish.

One of my favorite plunge pool tactics is to toss a woolly bugger into the plunge, wait for it to get swept below and strip it to life at the bottom of its dive. I like to imagine that the bugger does a fair job of imitating a sculpin, terrestrial, large nymph or other hearty meal that was unsuspectingly swept over the falls and is trying to swim to shelter after getting tossed around by the current. More than a few nice trout have seemed to agree.

• Add new comment

Mike Sepelak replied on Mon, 04/14/2014 - 15:39 Permalink

It's where I'd sit, so it makes perfect sense to me.

PoconoTrout replied on Mon, 04/14/2014 - 18:37 Permalink

I've been fishing them that way (the wrong way) my whole life. It never occurred to me until now how stupid it is. Makes perfect sense to ride the water down. Wonder why it seemed sensible to toss it into the whitewater. Pfft.

Thanks for the wakeup.

Chad Shmukler replied on Tue, 04/15/2014 - 00:16 Permalink

For a long time I fished them both ways, also failing to notice that I was getting nowhere everytime I was casting onto the surface of the pool. Eventually it clicked, but I wasted a lot of time before it did.

Steve K replied on Tue, 04/15/2014 - 10:05 Permalink

Wow, this makes a lot of sense. As a newbie, I have to ask: with all that turbulence pushing the fly around until it reaches the calmer water near the bottom, how do you know when to set the hook? Isn't the indicator getting pulled down into the plunge too?

Chad Shmukler replied on Tue, 04/15/2014 - 12:14 Permalink

Absolutely, though the indicator will pop back up in relative short order (along with the air bubbles) as your rig travels back downstream towards you. Once that happens, you should be able to start judging whether a take is occurring, although admittedly it'll be a bit more difficult than in calmer water.

The fact that -- as you note -- your indicator is typically dragged down with your flies when it first enters the plunge pool is particularly why I often like to strip or otherwise stay tight to the rig at during those first few seconds in the pool. By doing so, any take will be felt, rather than needing to be seen.

Oh, and in order to make sure your rising indicator (especially if you're using a trapped air indicator like the thingamabobber) isn't pulling your flies out of the strike zone in the bottom of the pool, be sure to try to judge the depth of the pool and adjust your strike indicator accordingly .

Aileen Lane replied on Mon, 08/25/2014 - 09:18 Permalink

One of my favorite spots to fish...except I do like to toss my big dry fly right where the water is calm between turbulent waters. Have had huge browns stick their head out to take my fly. Next time, I will have to try and toss one in the plunge.

Fishy Steve replied on Fri, 01/09/2015 - 12:59 Permalink

I learned the virtues of this article once by happenstance on my first fish out in a freestone river. Access to a pool I wanted to fish below the plunge was difficult, so from above the plunge I casted an orange stimulator with pheasant tail nymph dropped behind the stimulator. I was shocked by the immediate hard strike and landed my largest rainbow of that trip. Caught another one soon after moments later.

What I've also learned about fishing these spots is taking care of how to land a fish when you're above the plunge. Do not carelessly dangle the fish out of the water to raise it up to where you are, or bang the fellow up by dragging through rocky plunges. Before you cast into the plunge, figure where you will make your way to land the fish carefully so you can release it.

Jeff replied on Tue, 07/11/2017 - 18:19 Permalink

One issue I often run into with this is that the water typically gets very shallow upstream of - or right at - the plunge. Or the is obscured by rocks or other debris that has gotten hung up at this point. It can often make it difficult to let the flies 'take the ride' without getting snagged. Any tips?

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Do Fish Travel Over Niagara Falls (And Do They Survive)?

Niagara Falls is along the border of the U.S. and Canada just northwest of Buffalo New York . There are three falls that make up the group of Niagara Falls, with the “Horseshoe Falls” (Canadian Falls) being the most commonly referenced. The other two falls are the American Falls and the Bridal Veil Falls. The falls occur between Lake Ontario and Lake Erie where the Niagara River connects the two. The river flows over Niagara Falls and then splits, going around Grand Island before coming together again to empty into Lake Erie just west of Buffalo. With a large variety of fish that live in the Niagara River, you could ask do fish travel over Niagara Falls? And if they do, do they survive? Let’s find out!

What kinds of fish live in the Niagara River?

CPQ/Shutterstock.com

The Niagara River has a variety of fish, waterfowl, and amphibians that live in and around the river. Some of the most common fish are smallmouth bass, largemouth bass , perch, walleye , muskies and northern pike . Below the falls and into Lake Erie you will find lake trout, rainbow trout , king salmon, and channel catfish . You also find smallmouth bass, largemouth bass, perch walleye, muskies, and northern pike. The question is did some of the fish from the upper river make it over the falls and survive to make it to Lake Erie?

How big is Niagara Falls? How far is the drop?

Olympic Divers that dive off of platforms dive 10 meters (32.8 feet). The pool needs to be at least 5 meters (16.4 feet) deep for them to successfully “land”. So if a fish went over the Falls how far would they fall and how deep is the lake at the bottom? Here are the heights of the three falls:

• The pool below the Canadian Falls is 100 feet (35 metres) deep.
• There is a rock pile at the bottom of the falls which is 70-110 feet (21-34 metres) below the edge of the falls.

Do fish travel over Niagara Falls (and do they survive)?

Yes! Fish do travel over Niagara Falls. While fish can avoid the falls by staying upriver more, there are some that get caught up in the rapids at the top of the falls. The water in the rapids is moving at speeds of 25 mph so once a fish gets caught up in that they are along for the ride. Once the water reaches the falls it can get as fast as 68 mph (the fastest ever recorded!).

According to Wes Hill, an Niagara River expert, the good news is it is estimated that 90% of the fish that go over the falls survive. Wes grew up along the river and he would often help officials locate bodies and/or save people from going over the falls. He was brought in as an advisor during filming of films like Superman II , The Long Kiss Goodnight and Niagara: Miracles, Myths and Legends . As an avid fisherman he is familiar with fish going over the falls and surviving.

How big are the fish that live in the Niagara River?

Scientists suggest that smaller fish may have a higher survival rate than larger fish going over waterfalls. It depends a lot on the conditions below the falls. If there are lots of rocks, like at the bottom of Yosemite Falls, larger fish could land on the rocks and be killed. Let’s look at how big some of the Niagara River fish are (by average size):

FedBul/Shutterstock.com

• Smallmouth bass: 1 to 4 lbs.
• Largemouth bass: 1 to 5 lbs.
• Perch: 4 to 10 ounces.
• Muskie : 15 to 36 lbs.
• Walleye: up to 20 lbs.
• Northern Pike: Up to 40 lbs.

For all these fish, records will be significantly larger, but this gives an illustration of how large an average fish going over Niagara Falls may be. As you can see, a perch may stand a far better chance than a walleye or northern pike.

Has a human ever survived a fall over Niagara Falls?

• The first person to survive going over the falls in a barrel was Annie Edson Taylor who was a 63-year-old school teacher. She made her attempt on her birthday, October 24, 1901. She was hoping to become rich and famous from the stunt. She did survive but her fame was short lived and she ended up working as a street vendor in Niagara afterward.
• On the 4 th of July in 1928, a unique contraption that was a 6-foot rubber ball was used by Jean Lussier to go over the falls. He built in some oxygen rubber tubes to last for the trip and he surprisingly survived!
• Two Canadians, Peter DeBernardi and Geoffrey Petkovich survived a trip over the falls in a barrel on September 27, 1989. They went over the falls in one barrel and only suffered minor injuries.
• In 1985, the first man and woman to survive going over the falls together is Steven Trotter and Lori Martin. They also went over in a barrel.

Has a human ever died trying to go over Niagara Falls?

Yes. There have been numerous suicides over the years that end tragically when someone goes over the falls to their death. There are also people that have tried stunts to go over the falls but have died. Here are some of those:

• In 1920, Charles Stephens attempted to go over the falls in a barrel. He had a 600 lb. oak barrel but it wasn’t strong enough to protect him. The barrel was ripped apart and he died.
• On the  4 th of July in 1930, George Stathakis used a large 10-foot, 1000 lbs wooden barrel to attempt the falls. He also brought along his pet turtle, Sony. Unfortunately, the barrel got stuck behind the falls and it took 20 hours for rescuers to free him. But that timing proved too late. The barrel was sealed and George only had about three hours’ worth of oxygen so he suffocated. The turtle, who was thought to be around 150 years old, survived!
• One stuntman tried to go over the falls in a kayak. He decided not to wear a helmet or a life jacket. On June 5, 1990, Jessie Sharp died going over the falls (or landing) and his body was never recovered.
• Amazingly, daredevils have also tried going over Niagara Falls on jet skis. It certainly must look impressive, but it is also deadly. The last attempt was made by Robert Overacker on October 1, 1995. He did not make it.

YingHui Liu/Shutterstock.com

What kind of fish can walk up waterfalls?

There has to be a shout-out to a fish that can walk up a waterfall! The cavefish ( Cryptotora thamicola) is a blind fish from Thailand that can use its fin as feet and walk. A recent study found that “They are commonly observed climbing steep rock surfaces in fast-flowing waterfalls created by basalt or andesite intrusions.” What an amazing feet (feat)!

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Why Do Fish Jump Out Of The Water?

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In this guide we have tried to find answers for question why do fish jump out of the water? check out…

You might think it’s unnatural for fish to jump out of the water but you might be surprised that some of them do. Some fishes even “fly” out of the water.

Table of Contents

Defense Mechanism

There are several reasons why fish jump off the water. The most common cause is that they are being fished for and hunted.

Jumping out of the water is a defense mechanism of the fish. They want to get away from the  hook  and line and will try to dislodge it by jumping. They will shake and flop around violently in an effort to remove the hook from their lips. The largemouth  bass  is known to do this.

The most common example of fish jumping out for the water is  Asian Carp . They tend to jump out when a boat passes by them. They often jump inside the ship and back in the water.

Some speculate that they are defending their territories. The likely answer, however, is that  they are startled by the sudden appearance of a boat and the noise it produces .

They jump and can reach up to 4 meters in the air before descending. Anglers take advantage of the carp’s behavior by deliberately passing by them and shooting them as they jump out of the water.

Migration Pattern

Another reason why fish jump out of water is that they have to migrate and part of the migration trail is a waterfall. The fish called Ayu have to cross waterfalls when they migrate. They jump towards the top of the waterfall to get to the other side. Talk about determination!

Salmon are also known to swim against the current. They are not shy to jump waterfalls either in order to get to where they are going. The drive to procreate is that strong.

Low Oxygen Level

In specific instances that the water pH level is high and the oxygen is low, fish jump out of the water to breathe in oxygen.

The most common example of fish who do this are the killifishes. They jump on to land to reach “greener” bodies of water rich with oxygen.

The common cause of low oxygen could be the increased presence of algae in the water. There could also be human-made liquids in the water such as oil and other irritants.

Fish inside the aquarium can also suffer from low water quality. If the water has been improperly cycled, the fish are forced to jump out because of a high ammonia concentration or increased acidity in the water.

If the water is dirty, there will be less oxygen in it.

Big Predator Fish

Predator fish also jump out of the water when they are hunting for small fish. They also feed on small insects near or outside the water.

The African butterfly fish is the perfect example of this kind of behavior. Their eyes are designed to find these small insects. Once they see their prey, they can jump out of the water and glide for a while to hunt them. The marbled hatchetfish has also been observed to jump off of the water to prey on small insects.

The typical small insects that find then to feed on are mosquitoes, flies, water skippers, moths and other small insects.

Must Have Sex

Some fish jump out of the water to find and reach a potential mate.  Salmon  is again the best example of this. They will travel back to the place they were born to mate and ultimately die from the journey. They will overcome any obstacle that comes their way. They will jump small waterfalls, rocks, fallen logs, thick vegetation and the like.

Parasite Cleaning

It definite sound unusual but some fish, mainly manta rays, jump out of the water to rid themselves of pesky parasites like argues. They also do it to remove loose scales and external debris or garbage.

There is an ongoing debate as to why manta rays jump. Some say it’s a mating ritual. Others think that they are trying to remove parasites off of their bodies.

When they do breach the water, they do amazing flips and turns. No one knows why but they sure are graceful even outside the water.

In a Nutshell

In conclusion, there are various reasons why fish jump out of the water. The most common ones are as a defense mechanism against being hunted and hunting itself.

The less common ones are mating rituals, parasite cleansing, and low oxygen levels.

We hope we have answered your query!

You may also like:

• The Best Backpacking Fishing Poles Reviewed & Compared
• 5 Best Saltwater Tackle Bag for Fishing!
• 5 Best Mono Fishing Line – Expert’s Guide

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Willard National Fish Hatchery

Willard National Fish Hatchery has no adult salmon on station, they are a rearing only facility. The closest stations with adult salmon are the Little White Salmon and Spring Creek National Fish Hatcheries.

Willard National Fish Hatchery is located on the Little White Salmon River, approximately five miles upstream from the Little White Salmon National Fish Hatchery. We are located above an impassable natural waterfall and migrating adult salmon are unable to reach the Willard facility. Adult fish are collected and spawned at the Little White Salmon facility and eggs are shipped to Willard to initiate fish production. The hatchery includes 80.10 acres of land and we are co-located with the U.S. Geological Survey's Columbia River Research Laboratory. 

As a rearing facility, we rear 2 million upriver bright fall Chinook annually and up to 1.2 million coho salmon annually in partnership with the Yakama Nation. We mitigate for the loss of salmon associated with hydroelectric projects on the Columbia River and also fulfill tribal trust responsibilities.

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Coho Salmon Coho (or silver) salmon are powerfully built and can jump falls that most salmon cannot negotiate. They have small black spots on their backs and the upper lobe of the tail fin. The gums at the base of the teeth are white. Although sea-run coho have silver sides, spawning males develop bright red sides and greenish backs. Spawning females are paler. The jaws of the spawning males often become grotesquely hooked.

Most coho spend 18 months at sea, sticking to coastal waters, and return to their home streams at 3 years of age and 8 to 10 pounds. The fry spend over a year living in streams.

Upriver Bright Fall Chinook Salmon Upriver Bright fall Chinook, as their name implies, retain their "bright" silvery ocean color for weeks after entering fresh water. Spawning males turn dark green with rose-pink flanks. Females may have a duller version of the males' colors, but some acquire a brassy sheen. All races of Chinook can be distinguished from other salmon by their gray gums and their tail fins, which have spots on both lobes.

Fall Chinook typically spend 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 years at sea, returning to fresh water as 4-5 year olds. In August and September fall Chinook migrate upriver, sometimes swimming 60 miles in a day. They spawn in October and November.

Fall upriver brights are presently the most abundant salmon in the Columbia River Basin, and numbers have been slowly increasing since the mid-1960s. This is mainly due to hatchery production, since little natural spawning habitat is left. Historically many fall Chinook used to spawn in the main river stem, and most of this habitat has been altered by dams.

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Willard rears up to one million coho salmon for the Yakama Nation and two million upriver bright fall Chinook salmon from the Little White Salmon NFH. These bright salmon are released directly into the Little White Salmon River at the hatchery.

We are open Monday - Friday 8:00 am - 3:30 pm. The best time to visit the Willard National Fish Hatchery is late spring through fall; fingerling fish are present year round. The hatchery is located on the banks of the wild and scenic Little White Salmon River. The deep blue-green water attracts recreationists of all levels; from class V kayaking rapids to a quiet picnic to enjoy the peaceful scenery - this river does not disappoint. Activities include: enjoying the mountain canyon scenery, picnicking, viewing salmon, bird watching, and self-guided hatchery tours.

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Whether you want to further conservation, learn more about nature or share your love of the outdoors, you’ve come to the right place. National fish hatcheries provide many opportunities for you to help your community and fish and wildlife by doing what you love. National fish hatcheries partner with volunteers, youth groups, landowners, neighbors and residents of both urban and rural communities to make a lasting difference. There are opportunities for everyone to get involved!

We enjoy having visitors and volunteers at our hatchery. You can come watch the hatchery at work or learn how to lend a hand. 

The hatcheries provide local individuals the opportunity to volunteer by assisting hatchery staff with fish production, light maintenance activities and special events. All volunteers compliment our hatchery programs and offer valuable support. To volunteer, contact [email protected] , or call Cheri at (509) 493-1730.

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Forget the beach: How you can experience the real Maldives

I was on a boat in the middle of the Indian Ocean, about to taste real life in the Maldives .

A crew of fishermen from Sun Siyam Iru Veli, located in the Dhaalu Atoll, set up the fishing lines. We were anchored off the shores of the nearby local island Bandidhoo, where people fish tuna for money and smaller reef fish for their tables. 

The task seemed simple enough: bait attached to a hook tied to the end of a fishing line, which I was to hold by hand. As the line dropped to the reef, I was to wait for the feel of a fish nibbling on the bait. Then I’d just pull the line by hand, and voilà: a catch. No poles or spears required. 

Long-line fishing is a generations-old tradition in the Maldives, a way of life for its people. Living in an island nation where not much grows, Maldivians sustain themselves off of fish and coconuts. Not only is it an ancient practice, but long-line fishing is sustainable, taking just a few fish at a time with minimal damage to coral reefs or bycatch. 

I quickly learned that I was not a natural long-line fisher. For the next hour, I mistook the moving current for a gullible fish when I was actually the gullible one. Other times, the fish was stealthy enough to take the bait without me feeling anything at all. 

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Instead, I watched the fishermen work their magic. The line danced in their hands, flying up and down. Sensitive to the slightest movement going on 65 feet underwater, they knew the exact moment to start pulling the line up and win the battle against the fish. 

As the sun set over the water, we caught a total of nine fish, including emperor fish, batfish and humpback snapper. 

Although the rest of the fish went to the fishermen to enjoy at home, one snapper would make a reappearance the following day. For lunch, I enjoyed the red snapper, grilled to perfection and sliced raw into sashimi. 

While the Maldives is renowned as a romantic, luxurious destination where people can enjoy the sunshine, soft white sand and gentle lapping turquoise waters, it’s also packed with history and culture. While everyone should spend some time relaxing at the beach , the atoll nation offers way more for travelers to do – and learn more about life in the Maldives. 

Like most things in the Maldives, most activities are unfortunately pricey, especially since booking through a resort is pretty much your only option.

Long-line fishing is just the beginning. Here are eight other activities in the Maldives beyond simply lounging on the beach.

Go fish, Maldivian-style

Sunset fishing was hands-down my favorite excursion in the Maldives. Watching the fishermen in action was exhilarating, even though I couldn’t get the long line fishing down myself. Partaking in the ancient fishing tradition was a peek into real Maldivian life – and against the most gorgeous of backdrops: the sun setting over the ocean. To pick which fish to eat the next day and how it would be prepared made the experience extra rewarding.  

Check out the marine life

The Maldives is rich in marine biodiversity. Guests can snorkel and dive with whale sharks in southern waters and alongside manta rays in the north. At Sun Siyam Iru Veli, I went on an afternoon snorkeling tour, a 20-minute boat ride from the resort, and swam along the reef, an uninhabited island. Dropping about 100 feet, the reef was overflowing with marine life. I spotted a plethora of tropical reef fish along with three Hawksbill turtles – the most common type in the Maldives – and a white-tip reef shark. 

Even on resort grounds, travelers have plenty of opportunities to easily witness marine life – I spotted a pod of dolphins swim past me on my sunset fishing excursion and baby reef sharks around the shoreline by my villa at Sun Siyam Iru Veli in the mornings. 

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Explore the ocean … at night

Most resorts in the Maldives also have a house reef, where colorful clownfish and triggerfish swim around anemones and soft coral. At Sun Siyam Iru Fushi, guests can request a nighttime snorkeling activity, where they dive in after the sun sets to see the reef in another light, literally. 

The gear was simple. I slipped an orange filter over my snorkel mask, secured with a band, to eliminate the fluorescence caused by my blue light flashlight. This light source would make all the difference, as the soft coral and anemones absorbed the blue light, casting neon greens and reds back. The bright red anemones swayed in the dark and soft coral glowed, showcasing intricate brain-like textures and patterns not noticeable in daylight. 

Help restore some coral

Coral reefs play a critical role in the very existence of the Maldives; without them, the islands would be damaged by strong waves. Maldivians also rely on the fish from reefs for their livelihoods. Guests can participate in coral restoration alongside on-staff marine biologists at multiple Sun Siyam Resorts with coral planting. In this activity, I fastened coral fragments to a metal frame that’s later placed in the ocean to hopefully regrow and thrive. 

Visit a local island 

Sun Siyam Resorts offers travelers the chance to get off the resort island and witness everyday life for Maldivians. Guests can sign up for a local island tour, which takes them to a local fishing village to meet community members and see the school and local shops. I went on a local farm tour, where I got to see how some of the produce, such as papaya, that’s served in the resorts are grown. 

Watersports galore

In the Maldives, the ocean is the main attraction. Siyam World Maldives way offers more than the typical jetskis, paddleboards and kayaks. Guests of all ages can clamber around on the Indian Ocean’s biggest floating waterpark, made up of inflatable obstacles. There are also electric surfboards, kite surfing, banana boats and underwater jetpacks. I rented a seabob, a diving scooter that let me glide up and down underwater like a dolphin at up to 13 miles per hour. It was a strange sensation, but definitely took snorkeling to the next level. 

Visit an uninhabited private island

Over 83% of the Maldives’ 1,192 islands are uninhabited, allowing travelers to bask in unspoiled tropical landscapes. At Sun Siyam Iru Fushi, I was able to enjoy untouched nature and be the only present human there. Sun Siyam Iru Fushi and its sister resort, Siyam World, also share a small private island where only palm trees exist (and a restroom facility, so don’t worry about that). Guests can book the private island for picnics and photoshoots, which willand it’ll be exclusively theirs for the entire time. During the picnic, staff set up a tent for respite from the afternoon sun and served lunch and even champagne. No roughing it here.

Learn more about Maldivian culture

Every Friday night at Sun Siyam Iru Fushi, Maldivian staff share a piece of their culture with guests through traditional song and dance – of course, guests are invited to learn the dance, too. In Boduberu , dancers move energetically to the beat of coconut drums and folk singing. The dancing style is said to have come from African sailors who reached the Maldives many centuries ago, and is typically performed at special occasions and celebrations. The resort also offers cooking classes, where guests can learn how to make traditional Maldivian dishes, and free workshops such as making your own coconut oil, a staple product for cooking in the country. 

Kathleen Wong is a travel reporter for USA TODAY based in Hawaii. You can reach her at [email protected] .