Have you ever gone fishing with a shovel in the desert? People in Africa don’t need a spear or a rod to fish, nor do they need to get wet. There is a very special kind of fish that resides in the desert soil. With a shovel as their only tool in the middle of the dry desert, the people of Africa can still come home with a good load of delicious fish.
The fish is the African lungfish, Propterus. These fish breathe air and have 4 tiny legs. Suited to live part of their lives on land, they can survive in their cocoon-like pods for up to 3 years without a single drop of water.
How do these fish live on land? And how come they’d leave their home waters so willingly? Actually, these lungfishes inhabit usually shallow waters, such as marshes, or even swamps, with varying water levels. So when their home dries up for a season, they burrow themselves into soil and endure, until the rain refills their swamp or marsh home waters.
Watch this video to learn the amazing art of desert fishing with a shovel.
