In rivers that once held a balanced mix of native fish, a giant predator now dominates so completely that it has started lunging out of the water to grab unsuspecting pigeons. The wels catfish, a massive freshwater species introduced far from its original range, has transformed quiet European waterways into arenas of sudden, violent ambush. What began as a fisheries experiment has become a case study in how an invasive animal can rewrite the rules of an ecosystem, right up to the riverbank.
The spectacle of a fish swallowing a city pigeon in one gulp is shocking, but it is not a stunt. It is the logical endpoint of a population that has outgrown its traditional prey, learned new tricks, and found a way to turn urban birds into a reliable food source. The story of these pigeon-hunting catfish is really a story about human decisions, ecological blind spots, and the speed at which wildlife can adapt when given the chance.
The giant outsider that took over the river
The wels catfish, also known as the European catfish, is the continent’s largest freshwater fish, capable of reaching several meters in length and weighing well over 100 kilograms. Native to Eastern parts of the continent, it was deliberately moved into Western Europe to boost recreational angling and commercial catches, a decision that seemed clever until the ecological bill came due. In rivers where it did not evolve, this apex predator found few natural checks on its growth, and reports from Western Europe describe how it has rapidly expanded and begun to dominate local food webs, displacing native species that cannot withstand such intense predation, as detailed in coverage of European catfish.
Once established, these giants do not just coexist with local fish, they restructure the entire community. Accounts from Western Europe describe how the arrival of the wels catfish coincided with sharp declines in smaller native fish, amphibians, and even aquatic birds, a pattern consistent with the behavior of a top predator suddenly inserted into a system that never evolved to handle it. In Eastern rivers where the species is native, prey and predator have had time to reach a rough equilibrium, but in Western Europe the catfish’s size, longevity, and voracious appetite give it a decisive edge, a dynamic underscored in reports on how this giant predator has reshaped local waters.
From bottom-feeder to bird hunter
In its original range, the European catfish is typically a bottom-dwelling ambush hunter that cruises along lake and river beds, vacuuming up crustaceans, fish, and carrion with its wide, flat mouth. Its sensory system is tuned less to sight and more to vibrations and chemical cues, which allows it to hunt effectively in murky water where visibility is low. Observers who have studied the species note that these catfish usually stay deep, using their sensitive barbels to detect prey rather than relying on eyesight, a pattern described in analyses of how European catfish normally feed.
That makes their new behavior all the more striking. Along certain stretches of river in Western Europe, particularly in France, researchers and filmmakers have documented wels catfish abandoning the depths and lurking in the shallows, timing their movements to the habits of pigeons that gather on gravel bars and low banks. Instead of waiting for fish to swim past, these catfish surge toward the shoreline, sometimes partially beaching themselves to seize a bird in a split second before wriggling back into deeper water. Detailed field observations of these pigeon attacks show a predator that has shifted from a benthic lifestyle to a highly specialized surface ambush, exploiting a new food source that other fish ignore.
Why the menu jumped from fish to pigeons
The leap from eating fish to hunting pigeons did not happen in a vacuum. In several invaded rivers, the wels catfish has been so successful that it has effectively stripped out much of the medium-sized fish community that once formed its main diet. With traditional prey scarce and a growing population of large individuals to feed, the catfish appear to have turned to whatever protein-rich resource was abundant and easy to catch, which in many urban and semi-urban stretches meant flocks of pigeons congregating at the water’s edge. Accounts of these rivers describe how the invasive fish have decimated other fish, leaving birds as an attractive alternative.
Pigeons, for their part, are almost tailor-made victims. They are predictable, returning to the same spots to drink and bathe, and they often stand in shallow water with their heads down, distracted and slow to react. Observers have noted that the splashing and movement of dense flocks may even help draw in the catfish, which are highly sensitive to vibrations. Once a few individuals in a catfish population discover that lunging at the shoreline yields a high payoff, the behavior can spread, either through learning or simple trial and error, until an entire stretch of river is home to fish that routinely target birds, a pattern that helps explain why The Wels has become notorious in parts of France.
The only freshwater fish that beaches itself like an orca
What sets these catfish apart from most freshwater predators is not just what they eat, but how they hunt. Video evidence and underwater footage show wels catfish propelling themselves out of the water in a maneuver that looks more like a marine mammal’s beaching attack than a typical fish strike. With tiny eyes and a body built for deep water, they are almost blind in the shallows, yet they still manage to launch their bulk onto pebbly banks, grab a pigeon, and slide back into the current in a single fluid motion. Commentators who have studied this behavior describe the Wells catfish as the only freshwater fish known to hunt by beaching itself in a way comparable to orcas, a point highlighted in short clips focused on the Wells catfish.
The technique has been documented in detail along the Tarn River in southern France, where repeated observations show large catfish lying in wait just off the bank, then surging forward when pigeons cluster at the waterline. High-resolution footage from the Tarn River in France captures the moment of impact in slow motion, revealing how the fish angle their bodies and use the slope of the bank to help them slide back into deeper water after the strike. These compilations of Tarn River attacks have become a key reference for scientists trying to understand how a freshwater fish evolved, or at least learned, a hunting strategy so similar to that of coastal whales.
Science races to keep up with a viral predator
The world did not learn about pigeon-eating catfish from academic journals first, but from startling videos that spread rapidly online. Early clips showed enormous fish erupting from shallow water to engulf pigeons in a single gulp, prompting both skepticism and fascination. Researchers eventually followed up with systematic fieldwork, documenting the frequency of attacks, the size of the catfish involved, and the conditions that seemed to trigger the behavior. One widely shared compilation of pigeon attacks helped push the phenomenon into the public eye, while more structured studies used similar footage to analyze strike angles and success rates.
Scientists have also used longer-form documentaries to explain how this hunting style likely emerged over several decades as an alien species adapted to a novel environment. One investigation describes how, over time, an introduced catfish population refined a remarkable shoreline technique that involves careful positioning, split-second timing, and the willingness to strand itself briefly on land. Researchers combined direct observation with video analysis to understand this technique, treating the viral clips not as curiosities but as data. The result is a rare case where social media, field biology, and invasion ecology intersect, each helping to map the behavior of a predator that is still spreading.
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*This article was researched with the help of AI, with human editors creating the final content.
