What the crap? Fish from nowhere?

Factual Questions
1

I live near a big hill which has an open field with tall grass around it. Some areas of this field are depressed slightly. It has no public path but is accessible, if you want to wade through the brush.

In the springtime, I’ve noticed that these depressed areas fill up with rainwater, so much so that it becomes the size of a small pond. The grass underneath is quite thick and mats under the weight of the water, and so the water doesn’t really get a chance to sink into the ground. These “puddles”, once they get big enough, attract ducks and various other creatures. They usually are dried up completely by the end of the summer.

This is totally weird, though: Yesterday evening I took a walk by one of these puddles to take some photos of the ducks and ducklings, and I was really surprised to see frogs (not toads, frogs) and MINNOWS in this water! (No, they weren’t tadpoles - but I did see tadpoles too). I don’t know how the frogs could have gotten there, since there are no rivers or swampy areas nearby…but the fish really stumped me. How can this occur? Or was I just hallucinating?

2

Not sure if this is applicable, but some fish can get swept up in funnel clouds and get deposited, live, in other places. I’d expect smaller fish like minnows are particularly prone to have this happen to them.

3

Some species of fish eggs tend to cling to the legs and feathers of aquatic fowl, only to be later deposited into a different body of water to hatch and start a new colony.

4

Often the eggs of frogs and fish will get stuck to the bottom of ducks’ feet and redeposited when they move to a new location.

5

If ducks find the new pondlet, it’s quite reasonable that fish eggs might be transported in their feces, bits of plant life adhering to them, etc.

Some tiny animal eggs (I have no specific information on fish) can be windborn.

6

D’oh, Cluricaun beat me to it.

7

Some fish eggs are actually like spores, where they can survive when the water COMPLETELY dries up. When it fills up again, they hatch.

I think these are pretty rare though, and the previously described theories in this thread are far more likely in your case.

8

Ahhh. Hitchhikers! Neato!

Thanks for the answer(s). It’ll make for good trivia, I’m sure.

9

I just wanted to say that “Fish from Nowhere” is an excellent band name.

10

With their debut hit single Was I Just Hallucinating?, from the album |Depressed Areas.

11

**Was I Just Hallucinating? **
by Fish From Nowhere

*I live near a big hill.
open field with tall grass,
no public path,
wade through the brush.

[CHORUS]
This is totally weird, though:
MINNOWS!!
…
…
MINNOWS in this water!
(No, they weren’t tadpoles)

12

Ta-da!

Fish from nowhere.

13

I just wanted to mention that the presence of amphibians (frogs in this case) does not necessitate rivers or swampy areas nearby. Here is a link to an informative site on vernal pools that describes two species of amphibian that lay their eggs in these pools but spend most of their lives in drier upland habitats.

That site seems to be referring mostly to these pools as they exist in the Northeast United States…I don’t know what species might be present in your area.

14

Here’s a thread from a couple months ago: How do fish get into man made lakes?

15

Maybe they walked.

16

No, Fish, I’ve been to Olympia. It’s not exactly nowhere…per se. :smiley:
Oh, and some frogs and toads dig themselves into the ground and hibernate until the next rainy season.

17

LOL @ h.sapiens and Mangetout .

:smiley: