The first banned African Mangur Catfish that I spotted at the Basai Wetland in Gurgaon was a few months back. A kite had it in its talons and it was flying away to eat it in peace. I have been curious about the presence of this banned species looking at them swimming around in the wetland. I did take a couple of shots of the fish with my camera but then forgot about it till just today when I saw something similar to a feeding frenzy in which a fish carcass floating in the water was literally torn to shreds by the Mangur fish.
I was reminded of the movie Piranha while looking at the fish. No wonder, this fish has been banned by the Government! Clearly, the African Mangur Catfish is highly is highly aggressive and harmful to the endemic species found in the country. The African catfish is a hardy species that can survive in polluted water and often manages to survive in near drought-like conditions. It is clear that these fish have been introduced to the Basai Wetlands for commercial reasons and this is wreaking havoc on other endemic fish species.
In no time the catfish had dragged the carcass into the weeds out my line of sight. It was truly a strange experience!
While I did try to take a few snaps of a feeding frenzy in which these African Mangur catfish were literally tearing into shreds the carcass of a fish that was much bigger than the catfish. It is high time the fishery department took stock of matters before they got out of hand.
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