Florida fish farmers have been fighting a war against a foreign species of fish that breathes air, walks on land and has a devouring appetite for any fish smaller than itself.
The fish, clarius batrachus, better known as the walking catfish, has frustrated fish farmers throughout Florida for the past 35 years by infiltrating their ponds and thinning their wallets.
One of the many fish farmers who struggle with the problem is Steve Carmody, who owns a 40-acre fish farm in Gibsonton.
Carmody says when the catfish surfaces for air, its mouth becomes visible over the water line. This allows farmers to unleash their fury upon the intruders by blasting them out of the water with their rifles.
If Carmody catches a catfish squirming across the grass or through the mud, a swift hack with a machete is more efficient.
Aiding the fish farmers’ struggles, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service deemed the fish a danger to the environment and made importation and interstate transport of all species of walking catfish illegal.
Walter Courtenay, a research fishery biologist, says he doesn’t believe the problem has yet reached disastrous levels. But he does acknowledge their presence has led to a definite change within the balance of the state’s native fish population and has negatively affected the economy.