Surprise find in Miami airport lake for ‘River Monsters’ host
With season seven of Animal Planet’s popular series River Monsters set to debut Sunday, host Jeremy Wade took a busman’s holiday in Miami a week ago — and made an unexpected discovery.
Wade — a biologist, angler and outdoors journalist — wasn’t on a hunt for new monsters to catch and release; he intended to spend the day sight-fishing for bedding peacock bass in the network of freshwater lakes and canals adjacent to Miami International Airport. So what happened next was surprising.
Guided by Drew Gregg of Davie, Wade and a companion succeeded in their peacock quest, catching and releasing seven of the colorful transplanted Amazonians to about 2 pounds using artificial lures. But they were startled by what else they found among the peacocks: another invader from the Amazon — a two-foot aruana swimming freely near the surface of a residential canal. The fish had a long, ribbon-like body and relatively large scales. Unlike the peacocks, which were intentionally stocked in the local canal system by fisheries biologists in the 1980s, this exotic clearly didn’t belong.
http://www.miamiherald.com/sports/outdoors/article17123834.html