Althouse: What's this fish (or other beast) near the shore of Lake Mendota at sunrise today?

29 మే, 2026

What's this fish (or other beast) near the shore of Lake Mendota at sunrise today?

Video by Meade.

Also this morning:

46 కామెంట్‌లు:

Leland చెప్పారు...: The blue of the water is gorgeous.; 29-05-26 8:10 AM
Dave Begley చెప్పారు...: Fish sex.; 29-05-26 8:13 AM
MadTownGuy చెప్పారు...: Wow. Meade does sunrises too!; 29-05-26 8:16 AM
Wince చెప్పారు...: “…he's got lifeless eyes, black eyes, like a doll's eyes. When he comes at ya, doesn't seem to be livin' until he bites ya…”; 29-05-26 8:17 AM
madison mike చెప్పారు...: Perhaps suckers spawning......I've seen shorelines with suckers every 2-3 feet broaching on rocks.....Lake Wingra in Madison, Sioux Lookout in Ontario; 29-05-26 8:24 AM
Ice Nine చెప్పారు...: Mendotssie; 29-05-26 8:25 AM
rehajm చెప్పారు...: Yah Dave maybe I see two backs and dorsals and tails bit maybe wrong time for fish mating. As a fly fisher I know there are pre emergers and some just below the surface bugs where fish will swim that way not really breaking the surface with their mouths, just slurping up the protein. I know because sometimes a guide will yell at me for not knowing when to set. Well with your twelve foot long leader and tippet set up I have no effing idea where that tiny nymph at the end is dammit…; 29-05-26 8:29 AM
Bob Boyd చెప్పారు...: It's the dreaded Chupaganso. Watch out.; 29-05-26 8:31 AM
rehajm చెప్పారు...: yah looks sucker-ey; 29-05-26 8:33 AM
Bob Boyd చెప్పారు...: Maybe it's cousin of the D'ampton Worm.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8n6z-WRCd0; 29-05-26 8:38 AM
RideSpaceMountain చెప్పారు...: @Boyd, for a second it looked like a sasquatch wrestling nessie. Go Bigfoot! Ride the lightning!; 29-05-26 8:39 AM
William చెప్పారు...: Honorable people can disagree about the proper color of water in a reflecting pool. However, I think every fair minded person can agree that the water color of that lake is far too somber for a spring day. It needs to be lighter and brighter. A brighter, cleaner lake would cheer everybody up. Some measures should be taken to bring this into effect.; 29-05-26 8:54 AM
Bob Boyd చెప్పారు...: Bigfoot and Nessie were playmates when they were kids, but then Bigfoot immigrated to America. He did it legally, though and they changed his name to Sasquatch at Ellis Island. He soon went west, up into the high Rocky Mountains and he never came down, except occasionally when his cravings for sweets would get the better of him. Some say he's up there still.; 29-05-26 8:55 AM
Jaq చెప్పారు...: Never saw anything like that, but based on the comments here, here is a video of spawning suckers.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=S4F-fTpqT9U&pp=ygUaU3Bhd25pbmcgc3Vja2VycyBsYWtlc2hvcmU%3D&ra=m; 29-05-26 9:07 AM
Original Mike చెప్పారు...: This is the kind of thing Rusty would comment on. I fear we have lost another commenter.; 29-05-26 9:10 AM
RideSpaceMountain చెప్పారు...: Bigfoot headed scoutin', decided to ride the mountains
Wasn't bettin' on forgettin', Childhood monsters that he knew
The film was short and grainy, over difficult terrainy
Cryptid hunters all still exclaim, "what a view!"

And he said, "Mother Squatch!...the Rocky Mountains is the marrow of the world!" And by god, he was right!; 29-05-26 9:12 AM
Bob Boyd చెప్పారు...: Bear Claw Chris Lapp: Did I miss another cosplay convention?

Sasquatch: You didn't miss nuthin'.; 29-05-26 9:22 AM
Bob చెప్పారు...: Loch Mendota monster (Messie?); 29-05-26 9:32 AM
Quaestor చెప్పారు...: Not much to go on, but most likely it’s either a muskellunge, they are top water predators and fairly plentiful in Wisconsin lakes, or a carp. I’m leaning toward a carp because muskies tend to avoid the shallows, and the one very brief view of the critter is distinctly unlike a member of the pike clan. Though not generally thought of as predatory, carp are opportunistic omnivores not above lunging at anything small enough to swallow.; 29-05-26 9:59 AM
Levi Starks చెప్పారు...: Global warming has pushed the ocean temperature so high that Manatees have moved far far north to escape the heat.; 29-05-26 10:33 AM
Lazarus చెప్పారు...: It's Mendy, the Wisconsin lake monster. Make him/her your college mascot.; 29-05-26 10:52 AM
Original Mike చెప్పారు...: "I’m leaning toward a carp because … the one very brief view of the critter is distinctly unlike a member of the pike clan."

I also thought 'carp'.; 29-05-26 11:05 AM
Hassayamper చెప్పారు...: I say this is a sucker, based on the glimpse of the dorsal fin at 0:02.

The dorsal fin of the carp extends a much longer distance along the spine towards the tail, while the muskie and other members of the pike family have similarly short dorsal fins, but they are squared-off and positioned much closer to the tail.; 29-05-26 11:59 AM
Quaestor చెప్పారు...: ఈ కామెంట్‌ను రచయిత తీసివేశారు.; 29-05-26 12:00 PM
Quaestor చెప్పారు...: ఈ కామెంట్‌ను రచయిత తీసివేశారు.; 29-05-26 12:02 PM
Quaestor చెప్పారు...: "Global warming has pushed the ocean temperature so high that Manatees have moved far far north to escape the heat."

A word about manatees, particularly the Florida manatee (Trichichus manatus latirostris). Though we often think of them a marine mammals, perhaps we should think of them as aquatic mammals with some degree of tolerance for seawater. The extent of that tolerance is a matter of current study, however, it is clear that Florida manatees do not freely interbreed with the closely related West Indian manatees living in Bahamian waters. Apparently those sixty-odd miles of open ocean represent a formidable barrier of saltwater that our manatees find intolerable. What tolerance they do possess primarily serves them as a means to migrate from estuarial system to another. Historically, the Savanah River estuary defined the northern limit if the Florida manatee's range, but lately there have been confirmed reports of them in the James River. Sightings (we know what that means) have as far north as Massachusetts. Evidence of the dreaded ManBeatPig? Or is that just another benefit of the Intracoastal Waterway?; 29-05-26 12:03 PM
Quaestor చెప్పారు...: ManBearPig (stupid fingers!); 29-05-26 12:04 PM
Temujin చెప్పారు...: A river otter would be my guess. Or, as they're known in Wisconsin, dinner.; 29-05-26 12:36 PM
re Pete చెప్పారు...: Obviously no fishermen reading. A predator most likely a bass chasing bait fish in shallows. Live on Baffin Bay South Texas and you see the same thing all the time except with bigger fish.; 29-05-26 1:28 PM
re Pete చెప్పారు...: Suppose should say flats fisherman and not some form of squid chunker.; 29-05-26 1:30 PM
Iman చెప్పారు...: I have nothing to carp about, except for the undue attention paid to that basstard Mr. Hugh Manatee of Florida.; 29-05-26 1:41 PM
MadisonMan చెప్పారు...: Carp spawning season is my guess. I've seen in the past scores of them near-shore along Lakeshore Path.; 29-05-26 2:26 PM
Quaestor చెప్పారు...: "I have nothing to carp about, except for the undue attention paid to that basstard Mr. Hugh Manatee of Florida."

Punnish humor is nothing to toy with, Iman. Observe caution lest you find your head on a pike.; 29-05-26 3:02 PM
Quaestor చెప్పారు...: ఈ కామెంట్‌ను రచయిత తీసివేశారు.; 29-05-26 3:26 PM
Quaestor చెప్పారు...: "...river otter."

Another plausibility. As noted earlier, there's not much to go on here.

If one is really interested in documenting Lake Mendota wildlife, don't use a cell phone. Get a nice mid-range four-thirds mirrorless camera that can accept filters, a Panasonic LUMIX G7, for example.

With a polarizing filter installed, the identity of that mystery animal would be much easier to establish.; 29-05-26 3:29 PM
Linda చెప్పారు...: I agree with MadisonMan, Likely carp spawning. I was out on Cherokee lake kayaking Tuesday morning - I only sighted a few groups on the far shore,, but likely becoming more active with the warmer temps.; 29-05-26 3:35 PM
Begonia చెప్పారు...: Carp. When my dad was a kid he would spearfish them when they were spawning at what is now called Frautschi Point (just down the shoreline from Picnic Point).; 29-05-26 4:11 PM
Fritz చెప్పారు...: "A word about manatees, particularly the Florida manatee (Trichichus manatus latirostris). Though we often think of them a marine mammals, perhaps we should think of them as aquatic mammals with some degree of tolerance for seawater. The extent of that tolerance is a matter of current study, however, it is clear that Florida manatees do not freely interbreed with the closely related West Indian manatees living in Bahamian waters. Apparently those sixty-odd miles of open ocean represent a formidable barrier of saltwater that our manatees find intolerable. What tolerance they do possess primarily serves them as a means to migrate from estuarial system to another. Historically, the Savanah River estuary defined the northern limit if the Florida manatee's range, but lately there have been confirmed reports of them in the James River. Sightings (we know what that means) have as far north as Massachusetts. Evidence of the dreaded ManBeatPig? Or is that just another benefit of the Intracoastal Waterway?"

A few manatees have been making it as far as Maryland most summers in recent years, one in particular identified as "Chessie" has visited multiple times. He showed up in our marina one time. I know he was spotted as far up as the Severn River, and maybe even the Patapsco. One year he was airlifted home to Florida after a sudden fall cold snap. Most of the wandering manatees are thought to be younger males, maybe seeking new habitat, or just sightseeing.

https://news.maryland.gov/dnr/2021/08/01/chessie-the-manatee-still-making-waves/; 29-05-26 4:35 PM
James K చెప్పారు...: The title of the post somehow evoked "And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,. Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?"; 29-05-26 4:51 PM
Woodsman చెప్పారు...: It looks like carp, 2 or more.; 29-05-26 5:09 PM
SoLastMillennium చెప్పారు...: Why it's Nessie, of course! (Likely a baby one based on the size...); 29-05-26 5:38 PM
rehajm చెప్పారు...: There’s the occasional manatee what crosses north up to hilton head and the May../; 29-05-26 7:29 PM
DavidD చెప్పారు...: Carp. Spawning carp.; 29-05-26 7:53 PM
Ampersand చెప్పారు...: I've seen mink behaving like that near my place in Maine. Just a guess.; 29-05-26 8:28 PM
Ann Althouse చెప్పారు...: I uploaded the video to Grok before posting and asked the question that you see in the post title. Answer: "It's likely a common carp (Cyprinus carpio) or possibly another large fish like a northern pike, smallmouth bass, or longnose gar cruising the shallows."; 30-05-26 7:47 AM
Ann Althouse చెప్పారు...: Didn't want to skew your response.; 30-05-26 7:47 AM

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Althouse

29 మే, 2026

What's this fish (or other beast) near the shore of Lake Mendota at sunrise today?

46 కామెంట్‌లు:

కామెంట్‌ను పోస్ట్ చేయండి

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29 మే, 2026

What's this fish (or other beast) near the shore of Lake Mendota at sunrise today?

46 కామెంట్‌లు:

కామెంట్‌ను పోస్ట్ చేయండి

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