A research team in which Spanish scientists participate has discovered the curious dietary habits of a Mediterranean species called bigeye bat ( Myotis capaccinii ) . Until now "it was believed that in Europe all bats were insectivores, but when analyzing the diet of this bat, we discovered vertebrae and fish scales in its feces ", explained Egoitz Salsamendi, from the UPV / EHU group about the ecology and evolution of the behavior of bats.
In this way, it was shown that this species of bat eats fish, but to verify that they caught them themselves, it was necessary to keep them under control for a few days in a store, put fish on them and observe that, in effect, they caught live fish. Although insects on the surface of the water are based on their diet, there is an ecological reason that explains the piscivorous behavior , and that is that? When the puddles dry up and the fish concentrate on their surface, this resource is within their reach , and they exploit it ", adds Salsamendi. Capture success is greater over calm waters and without vegetation due to the refractive properties of the echolocation sound.
Myotis capaccinni is a gregarious species that inhabits from the Iberian Peninsula to the Black Sea , including most of the Mediterranean coast and many of the larger islands, extending from the Near East to Uzbekistan.
