Shawna Mitchell said she was "freaked out a little bit" after pulling the creature to a pier.
Posted on 07/28/2008 7:45:19 AM PDT by stainlessbanner
OCOEE, Fla. -- A fish-like creature with "legs" caught in a Central Florida lake over the weekend sparked a flood of e-mails after photos of it were aired on Local 6.
Shawna Mitchell said she was fishing on Starke Lake in Ocoee when she pulled something strange out of the water.
Mitchell's photos showed what appeared to be a fish with two front legs and no scales.
She said she was "freaked out a little bit" after pulling the creature to a pier.
After Local 6 News aired the photos, viewers sent e-mails to Local6.com Sunday night suggesting it was a mud puppy, eel, lung fish or Chinese walking fish.
However, Local 6 has learned that the "fish" is apparently a greater siren.
It's an amphibian that is a member of the salamander family. It is described as being very reclusive.
Mitchell said, "It was a great night of fishing that I won't forget any time soon," in an e-mail.
Shawna Mitchell said she was "freaked out a little bit" after pulling the creature to a pier.
Monster tadpole?
How big is the thing?? 4 inches or 6 feet long??
Awesomely cool animals. I hope she didn’t kill it.
Darwin would like this conundrum I think....
It looks more like a politician to me.
Stories of Florida’s walking catfish have been around for years. I remember sitting on the couch with my mother, watching the old black & white news story and asking my mother what we were going to do if they made it to Oklahoma. She looked at me kind of puzzled then said ‘I guess we’d have to shoot the bastards’. I think this was only the first or second time I had ever heard my mother curse.
Hmm... a scum-sucking bottom feeder with two legs and no apparent backbone or sex organs. You might be right.
Barbarians!!!!!
Many years ago we had a ditch not far from the house that stayed full of water except one year we had a severe dry spell. As the ditchstarted to dry up my boys was digging around in the mud and found one of these guys. Did some research on it back then, found out they are quite plentiful but rarely seen. Had an old fisherman tell me that yes they make excelent bait and stay alive on the hook for a long time.
Me too. It's disturbing that the article didn't address that, as if it's irrelevant.
I don’t know why they are confused, it is a Lungfish.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lungfish
In addition to the little legs, it also has lungs.
Its a big salamander or a newt. No big deal. Except that it might be endangered - they they have problem.
Probably tastes like chicken
Now THAT was funny!
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