Animals Gone Fishing

Catching prey isn't always easy. If it were, there wouldn't be so many hunting strategies in the animal kingdom. Some chase or trap prey, while others draw in their unsuspecting targets until they're close enough to ambush. Luring in another creature can also be useful for reasons other than catching a meal. Through a mix of camouflage and aggressive mimicry—a strategy where one species imitates something harmless or enticing to another—some animals take deception to the next level.

Temptation via Tail

Australia: Wild Extremes' death adder, with its golden brown and grey-striped body, is fairly nondescript. Its slim tail, though, puts on quite a performance. When hunger strikes, the snake retreats under leaf litter or burrows into the dirt, leaving its head and tail exposed.

It waves and wriggles its tail to look like a worm and waits for an amphibian, small reptile or rodent to approach. These unwitting animals think they see a potential snack but end up as meals themselves. Death adders at the Aquarium are not fed live prey, but in their native habitats, this trickery keeps their bellies full.

A Deadly Tongue Twister

Snowy egrets regularly visit Maryland's coastal salt marsh channels, like the one running through Harbor Wetland. Like many wading birds, they stop and hold still, waiting for fish to swim by before striking with their sharp beaks. However, the snowy egret has also been known to dip its open beak into the water and flick its tongue back and forth.

Curious fish may see the movement and think it's a worm, or see the ripples on the water's surface and think a bug has landed there. If they get too close, the egret snaps its bill shut, capturing its dinner.

Mussels and Their Alluring Mantles

The fishes in the Allegheny Stream habitat of our Maryland: Mountains to the Sea exhibit would make perfect targets for freshwater mussels in their native rivers and creeks. In this case, the mussels aren't aiming to eat the fish. They need the fish's help instead.

Mussels can't move to pick out new places for their offspring to grow. Instead, their larvae hang onto fish to reach other parts of the waterway. Some mussels simply release larvae into the water, while others bring the fish to them.

Mussels have mantles—a fleshy tissue that produces their shells. In some species, the female's mantle has evolved to look like a worm, small fish or insect. If enticed, a fish may try to grab a bite, only for the mussel to fill its gills with larvae by spraying them directly in its face. The larvae hang on, piggybacking on the fish until they're big enough to fall off and settle elsewhere.