hi - on sunday - I made the acquaintance of 2 cave trout [ bona fide brown trout of aprox 5 and 8 inches length ] in dr bannisters hand basin [ the upper most section of upper long churns ]
which got me thinking - how did they get there - and what is their survival chances ?
there is a theory that fish eggs can adhere to the fir / feet / feathers of birds or aquatic animals [ otter ? ] and be transported to unreachable sites
but this is a disputed theory [ to put it politely ]
and of coutse I cannot rule out the notion of some cavers carrying a bucket up there with fish they have " acquired " just to stock the cave
I discussed it yesterday with a caving companion who opined " could a fish egg survive regurgitation from a gull ? " a plausible idea I had not considered
any other ideas or theories on this
I have double checked the maps - and topo - and personally cannot see any realistic migration path for fish to get to a point that they could swim to or be flushed into dr bannisters
TIA
which got me thinking - how did they get there - and what is their survival chances ?
there is a theory that fish eggs can adhere to the fir / feet / feathers of birds or aquatic animals [ otter ? ] and be transported to unreachable sites
but this is a disputed theory [ to put it politely ]
and of coutse I cannot rule out the notion of some cavers carrying a bucket up there with fish they have " acquired " just to stock the cave
I discussed it yesterday with a caving companion who opined " could a fish egg survive regurgitation from a gull ? " a plausible idea I had not considered
any other ideas or theories on this
I have double checked the maps - and topo - and personally cannot see any realistic migration path for fish to get to a point that they could swim to or be flushed into dr bannisters
TIA