Pack-hunting in two species of catfish, Clavias gariepinus and C. ngamensis, in the Okavango Delta, Botswana

During the annual drawdown in the Okavango Delta, Botswana, large shoals of catfish migrate upstream in the main river channels. The examination of samples of the sharptooth catfish Clarias gariepinus and blunttooth catfish C. ngamensis revealed that they were pack-hunting and selectively preying on two species of mormyrids, the bulldog Marcusenius macrolepidotus and the churchill Petrocephalus catostoma . The predation on mormyrids may be related to prey size and abundance. In addition, catfish may sense the electrical discharge given off by the mormyrids when disturbed. The catfish feed intensively for a few months and build up body reserves and reproductive condition prior to spawning on shallow floodplains with the onset of the annual floods from Angola.