Gudgeon
Pounding Mute Swan
Gudge describes the food intake from the bottom of a body of water, mainly by water birds such as ducks and swans .
The birds do not submerge completely, but tip over so that their head and neck are under water while their bodies are still floating on the water. With their beak they then search the bottom for food or sift food out of the mud . With swans, the particularly long neck is advantageous, with which they can reach the bottom even in deeper waters .
Some fish species that search the ground for food with their mouths are also called gudges. In contrast to the birds, however, the fish obviously remain completely submerged.
Trivia
The behavior is described in the nursery rhyme All my ducklings : "Head in the water, tail in the heights."
literature
- Andrea Mertiny: Exploring and protecting nature. Was ist was, Vol. 68, Tessloff, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-7886-04085 , pp. 25-26.
- Andreas B. Lindner: Goldfish in the cold water aquarium. Lulu.com, 2013, ISBN 978-1-291-26879-9 , p. 16.
Commons : gudges - collection of images
