In an update to yesterday’s adventure to FWC’s non native fish research center at FAU, I did a bit more digging and found some nice informati0n on no native species in Florida here, at FWC’s site. Still nothing about the research facility on Spanish River Blvd. here in Boca, but at least we found out what kind of fish Eric caught yesterday: the walking catfish, Clarias batrachus. When it was first discovered here, there were fears of this fish taking over the ecosystem, excluding native fish and generally causing an ecological catastrophe. This was fueled in part by their sensational method of moving from one body of water to another: they walk! On land! So after a good rain, they are able to leave their canal, hop across the levee, and get into the pond on the other side (I have this anecdote from an eyewitness report of such an event in the 70s). Here’s a shot of it in action:
Thanks in part to the research at this facility, aided (or prompted) by reports from Florida’s avid fishing population, we now know that these fears were somewhat overblown. As the species information linked to earlier mentions,
early accounts that this fish would eliminate native fishes were erroneous, and it has not had major detrimental effects.
The Florida Museum of Natural History has a nice website about it, documenting its range expansion, but the FWC’s site indicates that its numbers have actually declined since 1970. I suspect that the FWC’s scientists are documenting an exotic species that isn’t as invasive as first thought, and that the word hasn’t spread very far as yet…
In any case, it’s an interesting fish; not scaly, so it’s not all that “icky” to the touch (as I can report, having done so yesterday), and pretty fun for even a toddler to catch. And while it’s considered tasty in its native range (Southeast Asia), it’s pretty unappetizing to those of us who like our largemouth bass from our inland waterways or our snapper or jacks offshore.
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