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| Heads up for a breath of fresh air |
Last week we spent a 96 degree afternoon by the swimming hole in the shade of a sycamore. Kids snorkeling and water fights were occasionally interrupted by the sight of a northern water snake poking its head out of a hole in the rock shelf to catch a breath and look around. It was very patient and allowed us to get within a few feet for photographs.
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| Moving down the body to a head first grip |
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| Quick, find the snake! |
Later that afternoon, our nephew Jon followed it along the far shore line and saw it duck its head into the water and come up with a fish. It swam to shore where its camouflage helped it remain inconspicuous. Jon got an Iphone and captured
this video of the snake swallowing a juvenile northern hog sucker (
Hypentelium nigricans). The fish is the same diameter as the snake, but snakes can dislocate their jaws to engulf far larger prey. You can watch as it bites it multiple times before maneuvering it around to get a head first grip. Then it is "down the hatch" as you watch it move down the snake's body.
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| Beautiful visitor to our deck |
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| Cruel fate |
We discussed the northern water snake in
this previous blog. Over the years we regularly swam with a larger one which even came out on our deck 12 feet above the creek last year. Unfortunately it was killed by a well-meaning visitor a few months later. He saw it in the swimming hole near some children and thought it was a water moccasin, a species that we have never found in our creek. All we have left now is its skin and fond memories. It pays to be able to identify snakes for safety as well. Ironically, this same swimming hole was the site of a misidentified copperhead snake bite in 2011 as described
in this blog.
Now back to the poor northern hogsucker, the Rodney Dangerfield "get no respect" of the fish world. Other names are now better, "hog molly" and "box head." They are abundant in the Ozarks, generally found below riffles in streams of all sizes. Its oversized head comes equipped with a vacuum cleaner mouth pointed downward.
The
MDC Field Guide describes it as "An energetic feeder, overturning rocks and stirring up the bottom as it
forages for immature aquatic insects and other bottom life with its
fleshy, sucking lips. Other fishes, especially the smallmouth bass, longear sunfish, and
various minnows, commonly follow foraging hogsuckers to feed on the
small organisms exposed by the hogsuckers' energetic rooting."
These hogsuckers live in clear water with gravel bottoms, the perfect description of our 8 foot deep swimming hole. They are one of my favorite snorkel prey and they lay still on the bottom as you glide overhead, trying to spot it. I rarely can find one until I am directly over it and it suddenly scoots away, not realizing that I am harmless.
A good resource for the snakes of Missouri is on this Missouri Department of Conservation web page.
