FLORIDA — Between the alligators that crawl menacingly out of the swamp and the green iguanas that fall from trees, reports of a freshwater fish that can grow to be 10 or 15 feet long might seem an everyday occurrence in Florida.
But there's nothing routine about the arapaima.
For starters, they're built like a battle tank. Their scales as impenetrable as body armor, and even piranha — known for their blade-like teeth and forceful bites — aren't a worthy adversary.
And these South American fish, the king fishes of the Amazon basin, may be invading Florida. A dead arapaima washed ashore in Cape Coral's Jaycee Park along the Caloosahatchee River, which dumps into the Gulf of Mexico, the South Florida Sun Sentinel reported.
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It's not just that these monster fish can grow 15 feet long and bulk up to around 450 pounds — though most top out at around linebacker size, 6 feet and 200 pounds — it's how quickly they become monstrous.
They have the fastest known growth rates of any fish species.
That's part of what has gotten the attention of the folks at the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission. These predatory fish feed using a "gulper" strategy — their big, open mouths act like vacuum effect and suck in anything in their path, according to a National Geographic species profile.
They're rather spectacular to watch at feeding time. Other fish and marine life are their preferred diet, but these fierce predators "can also use short bursts of speed to leap out of the water" and grab birds and small mammals.
These giant fish with tapered, copperish-green heads and upturned mouths can get right up in your face, swimming near the surface of the water because they can only stay underwater for 10 or 20 minutes before they have to come up to the surface to breathe. They're what's called obligate air breathers because they take in all of their oxygen from the atmosphere.
And when arapaima breathe, you may in this habit-changing coronavirus world instinctively cover your own facial orifices because it sounds like someone coughing.
Conservation officials said they're not too worried because arapaima can't survive in waters colder than 60 degrees — but they could survive in some of extreme southeast Florida's warmer waters. Plus, they lay their eggs in late winter and early spring, when water is cooler.
"There is no evidence that arapaima have reproduced in the wild in Florida," the Fish and Wildlife Commission wrote in an email to the Sun Sentinel.
However reassuring that may be, there's a but.
Nicholls State University biologist Dr. Katherine Galloway told the Sun Sentinel that a large, reproductively active arapaima could cause the species to multiply and establish themselves quickly.
And about those eggs:
"Adult males play an unusual reproductive role by incubating tens of thousands of eggs in their mouths, guarding them aggressively and moving them when necessary," according to National Geographic.
Look at it this way: It's a nifty adaptive trait, putting the business end of a fierce fish front and center of its defense of its species' continuity.
Known as the "cod of the Amazon" because their salted and dried meat can be stored without refrigeration — an important consideration in developing countries — their numbers are declining, primarily because of overfishing. New management practices in Brazil have boosted populations of the fish.
Because they're so big and reproduce quickly, they're considered an ideal species for farming. They've been introduced as an aquaculture species in tropical South America, and for sport fishing in Thailand and Malaysia.
A monster-fish-sized worry is that if they do establish in Florida, they'll eat fish that are commercially important to the state. For that reason, Fish and Wildlife Commission officials want to hear from anyone who sees arapaima — or any other nonnative freshwater fish species. Call the Exotic Species hotline at 888-483-4681.
If possible, the agency said, snap a photo and be sure to provide the exact location.
It's a mystery how the fish got in Caloosahatchee River in the first place. But Capt. Josh Constantine, who operates Caloosahatchee Cowboys Charters, told the Sun Sentinel that someone may have kept the fish as a pet and released it.
Or, he speculated, "someone could have brought it here already dead and let it go just to start some (expletive)."
"There's no telling," Constantine said. "We don't know."
March 20, 2021 at 04:49AM
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