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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsFlorida's New Invasive Species Is A 10-Foot Long River Monster
FORT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami/AP) Florida is already in a battle with dangerous and invasive species like the Burmese python, green iguana and lionfish and now theres a new predator in the state called the arapaima. It is a fish that can grow up to 10 feet long and weigh hundreds of pounds.
A dead one recently washed ashore in Cape Corals Jaycee Park along the Caloosahatchee River, which runs from Lake Okeechobee west to the Gulf of Mexico.
The arapaima is native to the Amazon River in South America and is one of the worlds largest predatory fish. Its scales are said to be as impenetrable as armor. And its ugly, at least to most people.
I think its kind of cool, said Captain Josh Constantine, who has been fishing the waters near the Caloosahatchee River for more than 20 years, and has been a guide for his business, Caloosahatchee Cowboys Charters, for more than a decade. ...........(more)
https://miami.cbslocal.com/2021/03/17/florida-new-invasive-species-fish-arapaima-river-monster/
mainer
(12,022 posts)Amazing fish. I saw them in the Amazon (where theyre under threat) and theyre spectacular fish.
dawg day
(7,947 posts)Also at that link, Florida man kills grandfather, cuts his ears off, hands them to cops. Family values... he and gramos were sharing a spliff.
mainer
(12,022 posts)superpatriotman
(6,249 posts)Because exotic pet aficionados have fucked this state with invasive non-native species.
Baitball Blogger
(46,736 posts)GoCubsGo
(32,086 posts)How the hell did that thing get there?
marble falls
(57,104 posts)But for a perspective: English Sparrows are invasive, as well as are horses, cows, earth worms, you and me ...
hunter
(38,317 posts)... and crossed into Asia via the Siberian land bridge.
Horses became extinct in North America about the same time humans arrived, possibly by a combination of climate change and human predation.
This explains the success of horses in North America as a re-introduced wild species.
marble falls
(57,104 posts)hunter
(38,317 posts)Horses were here much longer.
Yeah, I know, there are huge conflicts about wild horses in the American West.
I tend to be more concerned about all the gun-toting feral Christians.
denbot
(9,900 posts)taxi
(1,896 posts)From the end if the story, and as originally reported on March 4th in the Sun Sentinel:
Or, Constantine suggests, someone could have brought it here already dead and let it go just to start some [expletive]. Theres no telling. We dont know.
https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl-ne-ss-prem-arapaima-invasive-monster-fish-florida-20210304-qmni4zjpwjgntaxa7q4l3n3wom-story.html?outputType=amp&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Don%27t%20Miss&utm_content=5601614893888&__twitter_impression=true