Rumble Viral

Gus, my smallmouth bass teacher, loves to eat fresh horse flies

Gus, the smallmouth bass is an adorable fellow who lives in a remote lake in Ontario, Canada. He showed up under the swim raft of a family cottage on a quiet island and made friends with the family at that cottage. He became curious and swam close to them, seemingly hoping for food. They figured he wanted some juicy worms but they didn't have any with them. As they pondered what to do, they realized that the large horseflies buzzing around at the beach might be appealing enough for a hungry fish. They swatted and killed a few of the little monsters that were terrorizing them. They took Gus a handful of horse flies and he seemed to understand immediately that these humans were offering him food. He gobbled up the first round and stared at them like his stomach was still rumbling. For the next hour, the family bared their arms and legs and swatted all the horse flies that came to bite them. They collected dozens of flies and swam out to the raft, offering Gus a true feast. But they still thought Gus would like some worms so Dave and Kristy drove the boat down the lake, drove the car to town and got a tub of dew worms. The next morning they swam out to the dive raft, expecting to find Gus waiting. He was nowhere to be found. Dave and Kristy swam around the island, still holding a large dew worm, hoping to find another hungry bass or in case Gus showed up when they returned to the raft. Partway around the island, Gus showed up, following them as they swam. He began bumping their feet and legs for attention. It's possible he had followed them from the raft, or he had come out from another hiding place along the shore. Either way, he seemed to recognize them. Dave offered Gus the worm and he seemed unimpressed. He sniffed at it but turned away as if he wasn't hungry. After a few tries, Gus took the worm but he inhaled it and spat it out repeatedly. He shook it like a dog would shake a stuffed toy. Even broken into chunks, he kept spitting the worm out. But he looked at them expectantly and seemed to want more food. Understanding that the worms were not appealing to Gus' sophisticated palate, they began swatting horse flies and trying again. Gus gobbled up the flies as if that's what he wanted all along. Gus followed them and hung around with them in the swimming area for a few more days before the family had to go home. It was surprising that Gus could learn so quickly that his human friends were a reliable source of food. It was also surprising that he would prefer horse flies over big, fat worms. Kristy did some reading and found out that fish have effective taste buds on their tongue and lips. Surprisingly, fish also have taste buds on the rest of their body and they can taste food at quite a distance, similar to the way that humans can smell food in the air. Smallmouth bass have good memories and reasoning abilities. They also have considerable spatial mapping ability. This cottage family found out that bass are more intelligent than they had known them to be. Gus is a very decent teacher. And next time, the family will bring some fish scraps to see if Gus is open to a menu that does not involve them acting as horse fly bait.