VIDEO: Walking Catfish

SEBRING - Heavy rains brought a return visit of the walking catfish into the parking lot behind the Shoppes at Shelby Crossing on Tuesday. The catfish were first noticed by Highlands Today after a storm on Sunday.

Watch a video of the catfish in action.

Video: Walking Catfish

"It was the weirdest thing because neither one of us have seen anything like that before," Rebecka Bell said of about 30 catfish she saw scattered about the parking lot last Sunday.

Most of them were moving, she said.

They are walking catfish, a non-native fish, according to Paul Shafland, a senior scientist with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission at the non-native fish research lab in Boca Raton.

"It's not uncommon when the rains come and drainage systems overflow, for the fish to pop up on the surface of parking lots," he said.

The walking catfish's ability to breathe out of water is unique.

They can also move short distances on land much better than any other native fish can, Shafland said. They basically shuffle along through the use of their pectoral fin.

Colin Calway, of the Happy Trails Aquatics fish farm, said the walking catfish is easy to identify because of its dorsal (back) fin, which extends from behind the gills, the whole length of the body, back to the tail. Most of the native catfish have one short dorsal fin.

They will eat all the small fish in a pond, and then when the rain comes, they will travel across land as long as they can stay damp, he said.

The walking catfish is most commonly found in the Everglades and associated canals, but also occurs throughout central and south Florida.

It grows to a length of 12 to 20 inches and weighs up to three pounds. Possessing and transporting live walking catfish is illegal without special state and federal permits.

While not commonly eaten in western societies, they are prized in their native home of Southeast Asia, according to the commission's fact sheet on the fish.

But Shafland was not impressed at their taste.

"I only tried them once and did not find them to my taste," Shafland said.