Albino Walking Cats ? Florida ?

[fwprawn]

I'm curious - since there are many regular walking cats in Florida (Funny, I have NEVER seen one there) - I wondered if there are also albino / marbled populations in Florida?

Also - how do people catch them in Florida? I hear stories of them being all over, but I have not seen one there before.

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

Mostly you have to go into the Everglades, or close to, to see and catch them. Not sure about the East coast, Miami how prevalent they are there.

Albino and piebald are a product of aquaculture - in fact most produced in captivity/aquaculture apprear not to have normal coloration (some one, please, correct me if I am wrong). It's been speculated that the cause of it is line-breeding and inbreeding. Another piece of support for that is that among them there are way too many disfigured ones, missing fins, etc. I own a piebald one I bought in Toronto, Canada that's missing a caudal and one pec fin completely.

By comparison, albinism and amelanism rarely happens in nature (it is a genetic hiccup/mutation) and when it does, the wrongly colored fish stands a 1,000,000 smaller chance of survival - they stand out to sight-oriented predators like a bullseye target.

 

[AquaticAustin]

I live in Orlando right next to ucf and we have a TON of normal walking catfish. When they try to cross the road in force from a little pond out front to the marsh in back there's at least 10 smooshed on the road lol, to catch one just go pick it up. I have a video of one on YouTube actually

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using MonsterAquariaNetwork App

 

[Ash]

You will only find them in high populations in specific areas of Florida, you will not find them just anywhere. Actually there are very few places with dense populations of them.

I have no heard of/seen any which are albino or marbled. That may just be kept in the aquarium trade. Here in FL it is illegal to catch and possess or transport a walking catfish. Now if you do catch one and want to eat one you may do so but the second you land it you must immediately kill the animal otherwise it is in violation of the law.

For those of you that do live in FL this is not something you should go around doing. The same laws apply to other invasive animals here in FL. Some do not fall under these laws, Peacock bass for example were released by the state for other purposes and do not fall under laws of illegal possession and transportation. It really depends on the animal you are going after. It is always best to look up the laws of each state.

I do understand that you may mean no harm in this post but I am closing this thread because MFK does not support or encourage anyone to do any illegal activities and catching walking catfish is illegal. So posting tips on how to catch them is not something MFK would endorse on its website.