RE: NANFA-- Yawning darters?

Crail, Todd (tcrail_at_northshores.com)
Tue, 26 Nov 2002 14:44:14 -0500

Yeap, I've seen that before (sunfish freakin out, other fish yawning now and
then), but in my limited observation, that happens *way* less frequently as in
the case of these particular darters. These guys are doing it every 20 or so
minutes, compared to once a week or every couple days. I guess the frequency
in this case is what peaked my interest.

And granted, I don't have a stop watch on this, and it's definately not double
blind or something. I think the boss would get suspicious if I had a note pad
with Darter 1, Darter 2, Darter 3 and times written in columns below :)

-----Original Message-----
From: R. W. Wolff

I have seen just about every kind of fish I have kept yawn. I seem to
remember reading that it had to do with irritation, what kind I cannot
remember. Sunfish species, especially those with larger mouths, will often
after yawning snap their mouths shut several times and lurch forward at the
same time. I have even seen large and smallmouth bass do this in the wild.
So , apparently there is information out there on atleast theories to why
fish do this.
Ray
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