How do fish spend the winter? educational stories in pictures, fairy tales, riddles for children.

How do fish spend the winter?

Fish towards winter they gather in flocks to spend the winter. They descend into the depths of rivers and lakes. Their body is covered with mucus like a fur coat.

The fish spend the winter deep at the bottom. The water at the bottom does not freeze even in the most severe frosts. By winter, the fish becomes motionless and lethargic.

Fish winter in different ways.

Crucians, carps They bury themselves in the mud at the bottom of the reservoir and survive until spring. They are immobile and lose their appetite.

Many fish hibernate - catfish, tench, bream, roach. They lie on the bottom or burrow into the mud.

It is difficult for fish under the ice in winter. The algae begins to rot, there is less and less air under the ice, and it is difficult for the fish to breathe. That's why people make ice holes in rivers, through which clean air flows under the ice.

Predatory fish don't even sleep in winter - burbot, pike, perch.

Burbot a very nimble and voracious predator - like a wolf, only aquatic. He eats fish, frogs, caviar. Burbot loves cold water very much. Burbot hunts at night. And when the water becomes warm again, the burbot turns sluggish and motionless.

Trout, whitefish, salmon They also love cold water. In the fall, they make holes at the bottom - nests, and lay eggs in them. In the spring, small fish - babies - will appear from these eggs. They are called "fry".

Read entertaining stories and fairy tales to children about How do fish spend the winter?

How fish spend the winter: educational fairy tales and stories for children.

E. Shim. You're all screwed.

Morozko walked through the forest for the first time and got his feet wet. There were still autumn puddles on the ground, there was plenty of water in the swamps, and the forest lakes even overflowed their banks due to the rains.
And Morozka’s feet are in felt boots. Unable to spank.
Morozko sneezed and sniffled. And then he got angry and started slapping each other with his mittens.

When it pops, the ice cap is ready.
I made little lids for the puddles.
For swamps - more cover.
For ponds and lakes - very large lids of strong green ice.
Morozko took them in his arms and went to seal the water.
“Now,” he says, “I’ll cover up all this slush.”

Leaned over puddle, tries on the cap. And from the puddle faint voices:
- Morozko, Morozko, don’t seal the puddle, don’t lower the lid!
It looks frosty, and the puddle is full of all kinds of living creatures: there are swimming beetles, and water-loving beetles, and whirling beetles, there are water spiders, fleas and larvae... They scurry and fuss!
I tried it on - bang! - and instantly sealed the puddle.

It goes further. TO swamp got out.
“Now,” he says, “I’ll pick up the lid here too!”
And from the swamp voices are heard:
- Morozko, Morozko, don’t lower the lid, don’t seal the swamp!
Lo and behold, there are a lot of inhabitants here: frogs, newts, snails swarming around.
- Enough! - said Morozko. - They've outlived it. You're all screwed!
I tried it on - bang! - and instantly sealed the swamp.

It goes further. On lake came out.
“Now,” he says, “I’ll find the biggest lid!”
And voices are heard from the lake:
- Morozko, Morozko, don’t lower the lid, don’t seal the lake!
Lo and behold, the lake is full of fish. Here and pike, perch, And minnows, and all kinds of small fry, fry fingerlings
- Enough! - said Morozko. - They've outlived it! You're all screwed!
I tried it on, took aim - bang! - and a thick ice cover lay on the lake.

Like this! - Morozko says. - Now my time is to walk through the forests and fields. If I want, I’ll have mercy, but if I want, I’ll destroy everyone.
Morozko boasts, walks through the forest, crunches the ice, taps on the trees.
- I am the only ruler here!

And little did Morozka know that all the water inhabitants remained alive and well.
The beetles and larvae sank to the bottom and buried themselves in the soft mud.
The frogs buried themselves in the mud, the snails closed the entrance to the shell with limestone doors.
The fish found a deeper hole, lay down in a row, and slept.
And for those who do not sleep, people made a hole in the ice.
“Breathe for yourself,” they say, “for your health!”
Of course, life under the ice is not very fun. But nothing. You can hold out until spring.

And when spring comes, he will print out all Morozkin’s caps!

• What kind of “covers” did Morozko make in winter? Have you seen such ice “lids”?
• Where did he make the ice caps?
• Which of the inhabitants of the puddle (swamp, lake) asked Morozko not to make an ice cover?
• How did the inhabitants of the water escape the cold and the Frosty ice on the water in winter? How did they survive? (they sank to the bottom, buried themselves in the mud, buried themselves in the mud, fell asleep).
• How did people help them survive in winter?
• Who will print Morozkin's lids? When will this happen?

L. Karpova. How do fish spend the winter?

The frost covered the ponds, rivers, and lakes with a thick cover of ice. Only in the ice hole, as in an outlet, is clear, quiet water visible.
The winter river is gloomy and dull. The sun does not shine through the water, the sand does not shine, the water grasses do not bloom... In deep silence among the hills and valleys of the river bottom they stand motionless fish. They stand in large herds, with their heads all in one direction. They don't move their fins or their tail. Only the gills rise slightly - they breathe. Even in the fall, fish gather in herds and choose a place for wintering.

Thick-headed in summer som walks slowly in the deepest places, moving his long mustache, looking for a hole or rut that would be deeper and more spacious. He loves to lie in such pits. He sleeps during the day, and at night he goes out hunting: he will grab a fish, and grab a crayfish, and eat a frog. But in winter he lies in the hole completely motionless.

Wide, flat bream before wintering, as soon as the first ice appears off the coast, it quickly rises to the surface, rolls over on its side in the water and lies there for several minutes, as if saying goodbye to light and air. And then he rushes headlong into the depths and falls to the bottom. Bream lie in rows, like firewood in a woodpile, without any movement.

Carp They choose a muddy bottom and bury themselves in the mud. Sometimes they will find a soft hole and lie down in it with the whole herd.

Cheerful, agile perch loves stones and half-rotten trees that have fallen to the bottom. Hugging closely to each other, lowering their red fins, perches fall asleep in such places for the whole winter.

The herds fall like a wide ribbon to the sand minnows And ruffs. At the top, right under the ice, near the grass and reeds, silvery herds stand motionless roaches. Pike And zander They sleep in rows in dark hollows.

Gluttonous pike I don't sleep well. Narrow, with predatory eyes, with a huge mouth, no, no, and she will walk along the river and swallow sleepy fish. But her movements are slow, not like in the summer, when she rushes at her prey like lightning.

And only one burbot all winter long it walks along the river lively and cheerfully. He walks nimbly between sleeping schools of fish, looking for and swallowing young sleepy fish.

But as time goes by towards spring, the sun will drive away the ice and look into the river. The fish will wake up and swim, swelling their gills... And the burbot will no longer rush after them. Lethargic, half asleep, he will begin to look for a place to hibernate. He will hide under a stone or under a tree and fall asleep like the dead for the whole summer, until the very frost.

N. Sladkov. Perch and burbot.

- Miracles under the ice! All the fish are sleepy - you are the only one, Burbot, cheerful and playful. What's the matter with you, huh?
- And the fact that for all fish in winter it’s winter, but for me, Burbot, in winter it’s summer! You perches are dozing, and we burbots are playing weddings, swording caviar, rejoicing and having fun!
- Let's go, brother perches, to Burbot's wedding! Let’s wake up our sleep, have some fun, snack on burbot caviar...

• What kind of miracle did the perch see under the ice?
• What do all the fish do in winter? What about burbot?

Frosty winter is a special time in the life of river and lake inhabitants. Dense ice depletes the saturation of water with atmospheric oxygen. Snow cover reduces the access of sunlight to the under-ice space. Water lowers the temperature, causing most cold-blooded animals to become lethargic and inactive.

Some fish, like amphibians, enter into winter anabiosis (hibernation). In reservoirs that freeze to the bottom, crucian carp and small black dahlia fish, along with newts and frogs, burrow into the silt until spring, stopping all life processes. Other fish, obeying natural instincts, implement their species behavior patterns.

Wintering options for fish

Common options for wintering fish:

• gregarious sedentary existence in wintering pits;
• active crepuscular life (for predatory species);
• entry into the winter spawning phase;
• seasonal migrations;

The special physical properties of water help the inhabitants of the ice survive the winter well. Fresh water acquires its greatest density at +4 degrees Celsius. Cooling in the sub-ice layer to this temperature, the water sinks down without reaching the critical freezing point. The convective rotation of warm and cooling layers does not stop until the entire reservoir cools to +4, which only happens in very shallow ponds and lakes.

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Wintering pits and predators under the ice

Winter cold is the time when the growth of aquatic vegetation and plankton stops. Fish, whose food supply is becoming scarce, reduce their vital activity, gather in schools, and look for suitable places for wintering. Individuals of the same age and size gather in wintering pits. This makes it easier for them to endure the cold, clustering tightly in flocks. Mucus abundantly secreted on the surface of the scales helps to resist the cold and minimize energy costs. Most likely, it is this that scares away predators; the population of fish waiting out the cold remains untouched throughout the winter.

This behavior is typical for heat-loving bream, carp, and tench. The fat reserves stored in the summer allow you not to worry about nutrition. Near three months the fish spend little movement in wintering pits, so that the individuals closest to the bottom develop bedsores on their bellies.

Predatory fish belonging to twilight species feel good under the ice. Perch actively hunts both in the light and in areas shaded by ice, becoming a frequent prey for fishermen - masters of ice fishing. Pike prefers darker deep spaces, staying close to schools of perch and roach, catching ruffs, bleaks and verkhovok. The same fish, which do not change their usual places of existence during the cold season, are also hunted by the deepest twilight predator - pike perch. Winter fishing fishing for pike perch is possible only in the dark depths at a considerable distance from the shore.

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Time for whitefish and burbot

Catfish are somewhat more active, looking for places near the boundaries of wintering pits, on elevations of the bottom, near rapids that are more saturated with oxygen. Significant body weight allows the catfish not to fear rapid hypothermia. However, the most persistent lovers of winter swimming are burbots.

Burbot - winter fish

The temperature regime in the under-ice world is favorable for burbot. This fish does not like warm water; when heated in summer shallow water to a temperature of 27°C, it becomes fatal not only for juveniles, but also for adults. In summer, the fish leads an inactive lifestyle, hiding under snags, boulders and in holes. The burbot feeding season begins with the autumn cold snap, when the water cools to temperatures below +15 degrees. Winter cold adds activity. It is during the time of severe frosts that burbot spawn on areas of the bottom covered with small stones.

Whitefish, which lives in reservoirs surrounding the north of our country, from the European to the Far Eastern parts, also enters an active breeding phase in the fall and early winter. The whitefish feeds on bottom organisms, as well as the eggs of fish spawning in winter; it also eats its own.
Winter migrants

Summer feeds winter. It's hard to disagree with this proverb. All living beings prepare in advance for this harsh time of year. A person stocks up on fuel, insulates his home, and prepares food for future use. Animals, insects and fish are preparing for winter. However, everyone does it differently. Animals gain fat, and with the onset of cold weather they change their summer coats to winter ones. Insects and reptiles huddle in shelters and fall asleep, fish become lethargic, bury themselves in silt, fall into suspended animation, or look for deep bottom holes in which to wait out the winter.

Winter is a real test for river inhabitants. The surface of the reservoir is covered with ice, which does not allow the water to become saturated with oxygen. Sunlight is also becoming more scarce. Not only are winter days incredibly short, but the ice, covered with a thick layer of snow, prevents light from penetrating into the pond. The water becomes cold, which significantly reduces the activity of river inhabitants. Their movements become sluggish and slow.

In such conditions, most fish cannot lead an active lifestyle. They sink to the bottom, bury themselves in the silt, and fall into suspended animation. Life processes in their bodies slow down. They exist only due to the reserves that they were able to accumulate in the summer.

However, not all fish hibernate. Some of their species look for deep places (wintering holes), gather in flocks, and wait out the winter in such a sedentary state. Only predators, fish that spawn in winter, and those species that make seasonal migrations remain active.

But let’s return to those river inhabitants who spend the winter in their reservoirs. Let's see what happens to water when its temperature decreases. The answer is quite simple - its density increases. It becomes maximum at four degrees. Denser layers sink down, and less dense layers rise up. Natural convection of water occurs. Only its upper layers freeze. In order for a reservoir to freeze to the bottom, all the water must be cooled to four degrees. But this happens quite rarely, and only affects small and shallow bodies of water.

As the temperature drops, all life processes in the reservoir slow down. Aquatic plants stop growing and plankton do not reproduce. At the same time, the amount of food consumed by fish decreases. This forces fish of the same type and size to look for deep holes, gather in them, and thus overwinter. Their life processes slow down, their body becomes covered with mucus. According to existing opinion, it performs a protective function, which boils down to scaring away predators. At least until it gets warmer, they don’t touch them.

This is how all heat-loving fish, such as tench, carp, bream, and crucian carp, overwinter. In winter, they practically do not consume food, but subsist only on summer reserves, which are sufficient for three winter months. The fish are practically motionless, as evidenced by bedsores on their abdomens.

Winter has virtually no effect on predatory fish. They practically do not react to a decrease in water temperature. Perch and pike continue to hunt actively, which is what ice fishermen take advantage of. At the same time, pike prefers deep and dark places, where roach, bleak and ruffe usually spend the winter. Pike perch also remains active in winter, hunting at great depths, in dark places, far from the shore.

With the onset of winter, catfish leave deep holes and rise closer to the surface, trying to choose places with fast currents. This is due to the fact that it is here that the water is maximally saturated with oxygen. Burbot does the same. It's not for nothing that they call him winter fish. At this time of year he is very active. Burbot does not tolerate warm water well. At 27 degrees it dies. In summer, this fish is sluggish and inactive. It sinks to the bottom and gets buried under snags. It becomes active only in autumn, when the water temperature drops to 15 degrees. Fishermen say that it is at this time that the burbot begins to eat. Spawning for this fish also coincides with the winter period. Females select areas of the bottom with a rocky surface and lay eggs.

Whitefish fish is found in fresh water bodies of the northern part of Russia, including the Far East. It is also considered winter. Its spawning period coincides with the end of autumn and the beginning of winter. Whitefish feed on organisms that live on the bottom, as well as on the eggs of spawning fish.

Fish that migrate seasonally can live in both salt and fresh water. These include, for example, sturgeons that live in the Azov and Caspian seas. With the beginning of winter, they enter rivers and swim in huge flocks to their spawning grounds.

The Azov anchovy behaves somewhat differently. With the onset of winter, it migrates to the warmer waters of the Black Sea. Other fish make similar migrations. Caspian herring is moving closer to the south. The Far Eastern flounder does the same. Arctic fish simply descend to depths of up to 300 meters and practically stop consuming food.

Winter is a rather stressful period for flora and fauna. And if in most cases we see how they survive cold and frost, then we can only guess how fish winter. Today we will look at this issue in order to dot the i's.

Changing living conditions

It's worth starting with the fact that with the onset of winter, fish face changing living conditions. Daylight hours become shorter, fish receive less sunlight, there is a significant decrease in water temperature, the upper layer of the reservoir becomes covered with ice and covered with snow, which further reduces visibility. Thus, the fish finds itself in sufficient difficult conditions– in dark, cold, almost oxygen-deprived water.

Life activity of fish

Accordingly, in order to survive in such conditions, the fish organism must adapt to new circumstances. This is what happens. All processes of its vital activity slow down: food consumption decreases significantly, and sometimes stops altogether, heart rate drops, metabolism almost completely stops and is maintained with the help of previously accumulated fats.

Do fish hibernate?

For some reason, there is an opinion that with the onset of frost, fish hibernate. It is still not entirely clear who first put forward this theory, and on what facts it was based, but in fact, fish don't hibernate! The fact is that fish is an ectothermic living organism. What does it mean? That her body temperature is determined by the ambient temperature. Cold water means cold fish, warm water means warm fish. Exothermic organisms by definition cannot hibernate, unlike endothermic creatures. For example, a bear is a representative of endothermic organisms. His body temperature is generated by the body’s own system, and a decrease or increase in temperature by even a degree can negatively affect his life. Therefore, they can hibernate in order to survive a stressful period for the body as safely as possible. Heartbeat at the same time it can decrease almost by 95%.

Although there is something in common between hibernation and the resting state that is characteristic of fish - this fat accumulation before a decrease in metabolic processes.

Wintering pits

In order to survive the winter as painlessly as possible, many heat-loving fish gather in schools and go to wintering pits. In such pits they remain practically motionless throughout the winter. Scientists explain this interesting fact grouping into schools so that fish use up mucus better, which is released by them as an insulating agent. This helps them survive the winter safer than alone.

However, not all fish spend the winter in wintering pits. For example, soms They prefer the space above such pits or the elevated areas of the bottom. The fact is that after the reservoir is covered with ice, oxygen levels in wintering pits decrease. Its quantity there becomes so insignificant that catfish would not survive in such conditions.

Predators

Predatory fish do not hide with the onset of winter, but they also do not take advantage of the moment, eating the school gathered in the wintering hole. They hunt fish that are tolerant of the cold and do not change their usual places of residence.

Most predatory fish see well at dusk, and therefore, as soon as the reservoir is covered with ice and snow, not letting in sunlight, they begin to go hunting. In these first days, fish turn into real killers, not sparing their victims. This phenomenon is called "first ice".

"Moving"

There are also fish that, like many people, do not like winter and prefer to move to warmer climes. For example, anchovy, which usually lives in the Sea of ​​Azov, prepares for the winter, stocking up on fat since the summer. As soon as she feels the first signs of cold weather, begins its migration to the Black Sea, at the bottom of which it survives the winter.

"Cryogenic chamber"

What about small bodies of water that can freeze completely over in the winter? The fish have adapted to this too. They burrow into the mud. But when the water freezes to the very bottom, the fish also freezes into ice. Yes, yes, it's possible. It remains in this state until the reservoir begins to thaw. Once freed from their “cryogenic chamber”, the fish begin to fatten up in preparation for the next winter.

As you can see, each type of fish experiences winter in its own way. Depending on their habitat, they adapt to the characteristics of wintering, thus safely enduring this period.

Rudd

All living things prepare for the onset of winter in their own way: migratory birds fly south, forest animals stock up on warm coats and food supplies, and some even find cozy places for hibernation. How do fish winter? After all, rivers and lakes are covered with thick ice for long winter months!

Wintering pits

Different types of fish experience this difficult period differently. Many species of heat-loving fish, such as bream, carp, tench, already in October-November gather in huge schools and go to wintering pits. Here they spend about 3 months with virtually no movement, like herring in a barrel! Those fish that are at the very bottom even develop bedsores on their belly. In this case, fish of the same species and age spend the winter together. The fish cuddle up to each other, and the cold becomes less scary for them.

Catfish perch higher, near wintering pits. This is explained by the fact that in the pit itself, already a month after the formation of the ice cover, there is less oxygen, which catfish really do not like.

Ice hunting

Predator fish do not hide in wintering pits. But for some reason the inhabitants of such pits are not touched, although in this way they could ensure a satisfying existence for themselves throughout the winter. Perhaps predators also have their own concepts of justice?

For the most part, pike, perch and pike perch hunt for those fish that do not care about the ice shell above their heads, and they do not leave their usual habitats - these are roach, bleak, verkhovka and ruff.

The semi-darkness formed under the ice layer creates especially favorable hunting conditions for predators. In the first days of winter predatory fish They hunt especially actively, and fishermen call this glutton of predator “first ice.”

Winter is a joy

There are also fish for which winter is not a burden, but on the contrary - the most best time of the year! This is what burbot is like. Warm water depresses him. In summer, when the water temperature is above 15 C, burbot stops feeding and hibernates, hiding under coastal burrows, under large stones or snags. And if the temperature is above 27 C, this fish will die altogether! Only in the fall, when the rivers noticeably cool down, do the burbot awaken and begin to fatten up.

Pisces travelers

Some fish do not want to change their usual lifestyle in winter. They prefer to move to warmer waters. For example, anchovy, which lives in the Sea of ​​Azov, feeds intensively in the summer, accumulating fat. As the water gets colder, it migrates through the Kerch Strait to the Black Sea and spends the winter there, diving to a depth of 100 - 150 meters, where the water is warmer.

Frozen fish

What if the reservoir is shallow, stagnant and freezes through in the winter? There are such lakes in the Arctic. Their inhabitants - common crucian carp and black dalliya fish - burrow into the mud with the onset of winter. When such reservoirs freeze to the very bottom, fish often find themselves frozen into the ice. But even being in ice captivity, they do not die. In the spring, when reservoirs thaw, dalliya comes to life and during the short polar summer manages to fatten up and leave offspring. This is how incredibly hardy the inhabitants of the water are!