Why Do Koi Yawn?

[Sangreaal]

Surrounded by glass tanks of quarantined fish, I get a bird's eye view of koi behavior from just about anywhere in the house. And yes, I watch them more than I watch tv. *LOL*

Koi yawn just like we do when they're pooped. If it's getting late and I haven't turned off their lights yet, they lurk around and yawn in my general direction until I do.

Koi yawn after they've exerted themselves and finally get settled down--like after a feeding frenzy, followed by submarining to the floor and chewing the collection of foodstuffs crammed in their cheeks and down their gullets, followed by a vigorous vacuuming of the tank floor, after which they settle comfortably (or maybe not so comfortably if they stuff themselves like my Yamabuki or longfin Ochiba ), and yawn.

Koi yawn after a they've been on some sort of fishy mission (which usually revolves around the finding of food, but there's also a schooling/socializing thing that goes on). It's almost like a sign of transition or even boredom, but I figure it's probably to stretch tight muscles after chugging water across their gills at an accelerated rate.

Anybody have any other ideas on why koi yawn? I'm still in the midst of koi behavior study and wondered if anyone else ever pondered over this....

Marie




(Classic "After the Gorge," yawn. *L*)

[CarolinaGirl]

I am pretty sure gill irritation (such as flukes) cause koi to yawn also.

[KoiCop]

Marie . . .

I'm pretty sure it's 'cause they don't have cigarettes.
_____
Don

Member, ZNA & AKCA clubs
CKHPA

[Sangreaal]

Good observation! Would gill flukes have some kind of accompanying behavior to help classify the yawn?

[Sangreaal]

Quote: Originally Posted by KoiCop Marie . . . I'm pretty sure it's 'cause they don't have cigarettes. _____ Don Member, ZNA & AKCA clubs CKHPA

ROFLMAO

[kntry]

I've seen mine do that often but didn't think of it as a yawn. Interesting.

[luke frisbee]

I figure they are backflushing the crap off their gill rakes they picked up when they were feeding

[Russell Peters]

Quote: Originally Posted by Sangreaal Good observation! Would gill flukes have some kind of accompanying behavior to help classify the yawn?

With flukes they usually flap their pecs and will flash.

[JasPR]

Lukes' right. It is grooming technique for clearing water surrounding the gills. There is a normal three point action that all koi must perform- they much bring water into the mouth/close the mouth and seal off their gill openings, raise the flow of their mouth and then flush the water over the gills surface to absorb oxygen from the water and deposit waste to the passing and soon to exit water.
When resting in slower moving water, koi will exaggerate this action in an abbreviated version with wide yawns and sometimes leaving the gill plate open. JR

[tranquility]

Thats interesting to know..I've seen them do it but, didn't know why...I'll never forget when we had a goldfish named Lucky in our 35 gallon aquarium along with some community fish years ago....One day he kept do that over and over and over......finally it started to concern me....so I pulled him out and looked in his mouth...he had sucked in sooo many of them little blue pebbles from the bottom that they ALL got stuck in his mouth....so I had to figure out how to get some of them out so he could spit the rest out....that was when I realized goldies shouldn't have pebbles in their aquarium....
Lawanna