Need help to ID a walking fish..

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The only reason I thought it might be some type of snakehead is because the SH is a very abundant non-indigenous nuisance species here in Florida so it was the simplest answer to explain the nearly hundred of them I found dead amongst the trees. From looking at SH pictures though it is definitely(?) not one of them, although the coloring is right. I have yet to find a pic of any walker with long barbels and the long pectoral and dorsal fin bones, especially with the mouth on the bottom. Perhaps someone dumped nuke waste in my local pond.....
 
walkingfish;4794047; said:
The only reason I thought it might be some type of snakehead is because the SH is a very abundant non-indigenous nuisance species here in Florida so it was the simplest answer to explain the nearly hundred of them I found dead amongst the trees. From looking at SH pictures though it is definitely(?) not one of them, although the coloring is right. I have yet to find a pic of any walker with long barbels and the long pectoral and dorsal fin bones, especially with the mouth on the bottom. Perhaps someone dumped nuke waste in my local pond.....
Click to expand...
Quite a few Doradids fit that description perfectly...
 
I was gonna say Hoplo cat, Hoplosternum thoracatum, as well. I know from personal experience how well they can "walk" out of water. Had one jump out and make it 20 feet before expiring under a couch.
 
I looked at Hoplo cat pics , not him.
I think Ceeej31 may be right, it definitely has the bone structure of a Pleco. Now I'm wondering if the fish with the barbels (& mouth on bottom) I saw taking a stroll at night is a different species from the 100 dead ones in the trees that offered these skulls.
The internet can really suck sometimes. Every moron with IQ of room temperature has a blog about something, there are sites for every imaginable bizarre, nasty, creepy fetish, and there's even a DNA database for fungi.... But not one good skeleton reference collection from any University or museum's collection is on line. So much for it being a great educational tool (same thing they touted TV as in the 1930s). At least there's forums like these for people who are really into cool & interesting stuff.. Thanks again for all the help!
I'm still gonna try to catch one if they come out of the cold water seeking shelter again. My spare bathroom has 7 baby opossums living in it temporarily (long story), but I do have a spare bedroom.....
So, Pleco can walk overland?
 
I found these pics & X-Rays today online. Before I could post this, Oddball wrote above suggesting Pterygoplichthys. I guess were on the same wavelength! I'm glad Oddbal concurs, I don't feel so stymied by this puzzle now. (I'm a hydrogeologist, not an Ichthyologist)
http://www.fishbase.org/photos/thumbnailssummary.php?ID=25741
These pics and x-rays of pterygoplichthys look really good for my specimens.
So, if the live fish I saw was a different species, then there are at least two species of non-indigenous walking (but non-snakehead) Catfish in the settling ponds near my house, including (at least until last Winter) hundreds of Pterygoplichthys.. What are the chances of that? Or even just the Pterygoplichthys..
 
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