Circle of life photo: Snake eating Catfish

[justin-branam]

While I was up in Bryan, Texas at the winery this weekend, I took a stroll around their little pond. Came upon a cottonmouth that had just cought a nice sized catfish, and was getting ready to munch down on it. Snake was about 5 feet long and the catfish was a good 10 inches or so. Took it with the 70-200L lens and 420 speedlite. Not the best photo because im still learning how to use my flash, but here it is:

[david seale]

woooowwww thats neat. funny, i just watched somethin on anacondas last night and how they ate their pray.

[swanny338]

Nicec Photo

Originally Posted by david seale

woooowwww thats neat. funny, i just watched somethin on anacondas last night and how they ate their pray.

i watched that too.. i think, it was on National Geographic, talked about whether or not giant snakes could swallow humans

[sandboa]

Originally Posted by justin-branam

Came upon a cottonmouth that had just cought a nice sized catfish, and was getting ready to munch down on it. Snake was about 5 feet long and the catfish was a good 10 inches or so.

Nice capture. The snake is a harmless Diamondbacked Watersnake (Nerodia rhomiber) rather than a cottonmouth.

What is amazing is that this species and the related Brown Watersnake (N. taxispilota) of the SE US, regularly eat these spiny catfish. It isn't uncommon to find a watersnake with catfish spines penetrating their bodies, from the inside out! Apparently, it doesn't harm them.