Why am I still able to buy illegal fish?

[Fish Tank Travis]

Those are true eels not spiney eels. When looking at the list family names are what matters.

I agree with this. It looks like they are talking about true eels. The spiny eels are actually elongated fish and not eels at all. They are just called eels because of their elongated shape but I do not believe they are included in the banned species list you posted.

 

[ehh]

Some stores simply don't know. I was talking to the owner of my lfs and he was getting ready to order to an arapaima. He wasn't being greedy and saying "screw it, I want the sale." He didn't know they were illegal until I mentioned it.

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

Aren't LFSs subject to random, unannounced inspections by fish, game, and wildlife officers? I'd think this comes with an LFS business license.

This Texas list from the OP looks a lot like our Florida list http://tpwd.texas.gov/huntwild/wild/species/exotic/prohibited_aquatic.phtml

Yea, to read it on a fly, one needs to understand the fish family names, under which it says "all species". Otherwise, one needs to look them up, google them and see what common family names corrspond to these taxonomic family names and what common species belong to these family names. It's not that much work but it is work.

That is the source of OP's question, which has been addressed.

 

[ehh]

Aren't LFSs subject to random, unannounced inspections by fish, game, and wildlife officers? I'd think this comes with an LFS business license.

This Texas list from the OP looks a lot like our Florida list http://tpwd.texas.gov/huntwild/wild/species/exotic/prohibited_aquatic.phtml

Yea, to read it on a fly, one needs to understand the fish family names, under which it says "all species". Otherwise, one needs to look them up, google them and see what common family names corrspond to these taxonomic family names and what common species belong to these family names. It's not that much work but it is work.

That is the source of OP's question, which has been addressed.

Funny story...
One the lfs here had a tank full of rays and I asked the owner about it. He told me he had been passing them off as marine stingrays to the tpw person that would pay him visits.

However, someone did rat him out though. He ended going under because of it. Not really funny but the first part kind of is.