Armored catfish are vanishing from Florida’s rivers, and scientists have finally identified what’s preying on them. These invasive fish, protected by tough bony plates, seemed nearly untouchable in the state’s waterways.
For four years, Dr. Ryan Allisson had been conducting population density surveys in Florida’s Peace and Hillsborough rivers. He knew what the numbers should look like, having established the monitoring protocol himself, with fixed stations and consistent survey lines walked the same way each field season so that real changes would appear as trends rather than noise.In the winter of 2022, three sur…
A routine water drawdown at a treatment facility in South Florida uncovered an underground network of invasive armored catfish tunnels and a hidden population of Burmese pythons, according to
A routine water drawdown at a treatment facility in South Florida uncovered an underground network of invasive armored catfish tunnels and a hidden population of Burmese pythons, according to biologists who documented the find.Water managers periodically drain the facility, which spans thousands of hectares in the heart of South Florida, to maintain vegetation. Biologist Sarah Mitchell had perform…
After Florida drained a massive wetland, biologists uncovered something far more disturbing than anyone expected. The project, meant to reshape the landscape, exposed hidden dangers beneath the surface.
A recent water drawdown at Stormwater Treatment Area 1 West in South Florida exposed a larger than expected population of invasive armored catfish, signaling that current control efforts are falling short. The event occurred when the area was deliberately drained for maintenance, leaving fish concentrated in shallow pools where biologists could survey them.The Florida Everglades functions as a slo…
After Florida drained a wetland, biologists made a baffling discovery deep in the exposed muck. The massive project, designed to reshape the landscape, revealed something they never expected lurking beneath the surface.
A recent drawdown at Stormwater Treatment Area 1 West in South Florida gave biologists an unusually clear look at the ecological state of the wetlands. When water levels were lowered for routine maintenance, the exposed marsh revealed a larger presence of invasive fish than researchers had anticipated. Among the native largemouth bass and bluegill, teams found significant pockets of armored catfis…