Camping and Fishing Adventures

What.....a walking catfish?

Have you ever seen a fish that walks?  I don't mean watching it on some nature channel; I'm talking about actually catching one and watching it walk back to its watery home.

I was fishing a portion of the Myakka River in Myakka River State Park when I hooked into this little catfish.  After reeling it in I noticed it wasn’t a regular looking catfish with smooth, slippery skin like most.  It had little hard looking scales that looked like armor.  Found out later that it was an armored catfish.

Once I had it out of the water, it wiggled a lot and released itself from its hooked position, when it dropped to the ground; it almost immediately started walking back to the river.

I had our camera sitting close by, so I grabbed it and started recording.  This little armored catfish would walk a few inches, then rest, and then walk again, and all the time it was pointed toward the water just inches away.

I called Karen over to see this little walker make it back to the water and she couldn't believe her eyes, and neither could I.

Personally, I find this little fish just another of nature's miracles and it excites me to watch an amazing act of nature such as this.  I couldn't help saying to myself, "what…. a walking fish?".