Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Trout Leap to Freedom in Incredible Escape

Trouts escaping from a fish farmBrown trout trapped in a fish farm pond have discovered an extraordinary escape route.

The fish, bred in large numbers at a fish farm near Alresford, Hants, are scaling the perimeter of their four ponds in search of freedom.

A pipe feeds each pond with gushing, fresh water from a stream 30 feet away, helping to aerate the water.

But the trout are making giant leaps out of their pond and straight into the eight-inch wide metal pipe three feet above the water level.

They then fight against the current until they're able to swim out of the pipe, which emerges underwater in a tributary of the River Itchen.

In their natural habitat trout head up stream to spawn in fast flowing, well-oxidated areas and it is thought the farmed fish are following their natural instincts in heading for the artificial waterfalls.

A farm worker said: "It is remarkable how they manage to jump so high and through such a small pipe.

This Is London

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