Residents of storm-battered Florida may have felt the sea was reclaiming the state during Hurricane Debby, and it seems some of the local wildlife had the same idea.
As Category 1 turned streets into rivers, some were alarmed to find their neighborhoods stalked by walking fish that had ghostly adapted to amphibious conditions.
Social media was filled with images of slimy-looking creatures flapping their wings boldly around their yards after being driven from their hiding places by the storm.
And residents weren’t reassured after wildlife experts identified them as “walking catfish,” a species native to Southeast Asia that has been slowly increasing in Florida since its first sighting there in the late 1960s.
“Wow! How awful! Who knows what else might appear out there,” wrote one. “Be careful.”
Louis Bardach found a 12-inch copy eyeing him suspiciously on his driveway.
The creature flew away down the Gulfport driveway as Bardach attempted to poke it.
The storm was still brewing when Louis Bardach found a 12-inch specimen staring suspiciously at him in the driveway of his Gulfport home.
“It’s very alive,” the owner commented while filming it for Instagram.
The creature sprang to life and began writhing across the asphalt as Bardach tried to poke it with a finger, flapping back and forth like a giant tadpole.
“I’m not sure where it’s coming from or where it’s trying to go,” Bardach said.
“How strange! Well, maybe we can help.”
Not everyone was so understanding in a state that is no stranger to some quirky wildlife.
“Hope you were able to help get it into the fryer,” one wrote.
“The walking catfish is an invasive species. We should have killed it,” another added.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission says the animals are identified by their “elongated, gray, scaleless, catfish-like body with a large mouth, sharp pectoral spines and four pairs of barbels.”
And they describe their advance across the land as “like a foot soldier sliding under barbed wire.”
Another specimen was collected on a driveway in St. Petersburg.
Hundreds of walking catfish were reported frolicking in yards, lawns and driveways after Hurricane Ian hit Florida in 2022.
Instant noodle fans who want to test themselves against catfish should note that they do not have fish scales, but are instead “covered in a slippery mucus that protects their skin when they are out of the water,” according to the Florida Museum of Natural History.
They are most commonly found in the Everglades and connected canals and “can live and even thrive in water with little or no oxygen.”
Some of the population lives in storm drain systems and it is likely that they are the ones who appeared in residential areas during the disturbances caused by Debby.
Despite their disconcerting appearance, they are “good parents,” the museum notes, with “the males building the nests in underwater vegetation and protecting the eggs and then the young.”
‘This additional protection by males at an early stage helps the walking catfish to be more successful as an invasive species.’
Initial fears about their impact on native species proved exaggerated, but they are “still considered undesirable”, according to the Commission.
“They can only be consumed dead, so fishermen who want to try to eat them must immediately put them on ice,” he added.
A St. Petersburg man found two more in his driveway and 14 in the backyard of a Merritt Island home after Hurricane Ian two years ago.
Some were sympathetic to the plight of fish out of water after stumbling upon them in the latest flood.
“I saw this the other day when I was out for a run,” one wrote. “I had to put the poor animal in a bucket and carry it to a pond or spring.
“They can stay alive for up to a day or so as long as they are kept wet, which in that climate won’t be a problem,” wrote another.
“It can also smell or taste the scent of the nearest pond or river, and will eventually make its way there. If you see one, it’s probably best to leave it alone.”
But others were not at all impressed by the web-footed creature.
“My goodness. People don’t react that nicely to most people,” one said.
‘It’s a stupid fish that feeds on mud and also tastes like dirt.’