Catfish Walking The Streets of Florida

It’s not bad enough we have to deal with cats, but now we have deal with their fish too? Check out this story from Florida about walking catfish emerging from the gutters into the streets.

I can already see what’s going to happen next. There will be fish adoption days at Petsmart, catfish toys taking away valuable shelf space from dog toys at Wal-Mart, and beautiful parks designated for catfish only. The end result will be that Catfish owners will think the moist slab of fish cuddling up with them on the couch is better than a dog. This is straight from the pages of the “Cat World Domination” playbook.

PINELLAS PARK — Residents in a Pinellas County subdivision found about 30 catfish walking around their neighborhood on Tuesday.

Paul Shafland, a scientist with Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said walking catfish can travel short distances on land as long as they stay moist.

“Scientists say these walking catfish are pretty tough. They actually live in storm drains, and when it rains a lot they come up with the water and start walking around the streets,” Shafland said.

Look anywhere you find walking catfish and you’ll see a high crime rate. These catfish love to beat up octogenarians and steal old ladies’s pocketbooks. The good news is they are easy to spot as they travel in gangs.  If you see a gaggle of catfish coming at you, turn and run, don’t walk, run the other way.

“We thought it was a prank at first. That, maybe, somebody dumped some fish, but then we realized that it was coming up from the sewer — that we had to so much rain last night,” said Pinellas Park resident Hannah Cline.

A fisherman on the St. Petersburg Pier who wasn’t having much luck, was skeptical that he could catch plenty of fish on the street.

“Oh, walking on the street? Nah,” said Marcilinio Ramierez.

Even though the slippery walking catfish are easy to catch, scientists say people should not try to save them because the fish are an invasive species that does harm to Florida’s ecosystem.

Invasive…hmm…just like their feline counterparts