Canberra residents spot huge wave of catfish moving with the tide in neighbourhood canal
A massive school of catfish was spotted moving through a canal in Canberra, sparking curiosity — and some concern — among residents after a video of the phenomenon went viral.
The footage was shared by 41-year-old financial adviser Regine Tan on the Facebook group Singapore Wildlife Sightings on Wednesday (10 Dec).
Captioning her post, she wrote: “This looks like in thousands or in millions. Are those catfish? Where are they going? Is it native to Singapore? (sic)”
Resident questions whether sighting is harmful to ecosystem
Speaking to MS News, Ms Tan said she recorded the video at around 10am along the Simpang Kiri canal.
Source: Regine Tan on Facebook
“My husband has seen this before in the estate group chat, and he didn’t realise there were so many fish,” she said. “I also wanted to know if this phenomenon is friendly to our environment. Some catfish are not native and can be harmful to the local ecosystem.”
Her post quickly drew discussion in the comments, with one user suggesting that the fish could be Sagor sea catfish, a marine species known to swim upstream into canals and even freshwater areas.
The commenter also pointed to a similar sighting at Sungei Simpang Kanan Park Connector back in September.
Source: Dan N Kev on Facebook
Another resident says catfish are native & commonly seen there
Another Canberra resident, Mohamad Salleh Bin Saidali, 43, chimed in on the post, saying the sighting occurred near his home along Canberra Street and that he sees the fish moving up and down the same canal daily.
He told MS News that catfish have been appearing in the Simpang Kiri canal for years.
