New Florida Invasive Species: The Arapaima

A giant Amazonian River fish that is sorta like a tarpon, is invading Florida waterways and is now endangering native Florida wildlife. Florida is already dealing with pythons, iguanas and lion fish, and now a gigantic armor plated voracious predatory fish.

From CBS Miami here:

The arapaima, because of its varied and voracious appetite, is a threat to native Florida wildlife. It is also capable of producing hundreds of thousands of eggs during its lifetime.  But that apparently hasn’t happened here.  “There is no evidence that arapaima have reproduced in the wild in Florida,” the FWC said in an email.

It’s a bit of good news that the fish is showing no evidence of breeding, but how did it get up here from the Amazon?