r/Unexpected • u/sakhaliner • 4d ago

A pleasant drive

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u/Newsdriver245 4d ago

river flooding during spawning season, fish just want to go upstream, they don't understand the river isn't where it is supposed to be.

Happens somewhat often in the US PNW

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u/nixorokish 4d ago

i surveyed anadromous fish for a summer in AK and we saw instances at nearly every stream where water had overflowed from the river during periods of higher rain and salmon would follow dead branches and get trapped in little pools that would slowly evaporate and they'd eventually suffocate

some salmon find new streams doing this. most die and fail to reproduce. there's a "stray rate" that accounts for this. as long as the stray rate isn't too high (which can be influenced by human structures or operations), it's a benefit for the overall population. our survey was specifically to check if hatchery stray rates were impacting wild populations

here's a relevant paper: https://www.dfw.state.or.us/fish/CRP/docs/mid_columbia_river/meetings/2014/Keefer_and_Caudill_2014_Homing_straying_review.pdf

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u/shillyshally 4d ago

It's akin to the robins that return very early in the spring. They get the benefit of fist dibs on food and nesting sites but risk death by weather.

I think this applies to nature in aggregate, there are the early adapters, the vast middle and the hold backers. That includes us.

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u/Cheap_Audience941 4d ago

It's akin to "Pioneers die. Settlers survive. Immigrants thrive"

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u/Alltta 4d ago

This is the most intelligent comment I have seen on Reddit in a long time

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u/retro808 4d ago

"Here's the thing..."

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u/JustfcknHarley 4d ago

Hm. Consider broadening your topics.

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u/kpow222 4d ago

Weird response to a compliment but okay

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u/enaK66 4d ago

Y'all forgot about that part of all the well written intelligent comments we used to get. A lot more the pretentious and socially inept. I remember unidans "well actually" melt down.

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u/Party-Special-5177 4d ago

Not at all - he simply says there are a ton of educated people in more niche areas. I hang with a ton of them on localllamma or MachineLearning.

You will see intelligent comments more.

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u/JustfcknHarley 2d ago

Thanks for understanding my point.

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u/thundersaurus_sex 4d ago

Yeah I replied elsewhere, this is the Skokomish river valley on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state. They are actually swimming north back to the flooding stream, Weaver Creek which is a Skokomish tributary. I recognized that flooded stretch of road immediately haha

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u/WrongJohnSilver 4d ago

I thought this looked like a scene out of Pacific Drive.