Residents on the lookout for exotic lizard running loose in Lakeland neighborhood
Ken Suarez reports
LAKELAND, Fla. - An uninvited guest is prowling the streets and hiding under the sheds of a north Lakeland neighborhood.
On Wednesday, Dustin Hooper of All Creatures Wildlife Control went on the hunt for him. His mission was to find the two-and-a-half foot tegu lizard. If provoked or cornered, tegus can get pretty ornery. It’s unlikely that the lizard is just going to run and pounce and attack somebody, Hooper told FOX 13. The chance of somebody getting bit is when they want to get curious ‘I want to see what this is,’ and they get too close. The lizard is not going to have it. The lizard is going to bite. If that happens, you’re probably going to get an infection and get sick.
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The arapaima is native to the Amazon River in South America and is one of the world’s largest predatory fish. Its scales are said to be as impenetrable as armor.
And it’s ugly, at least to most people.
“I think it’s kind of cool,” said Captain Josh Constantine, who has been fishing the waters near the Caloosahatchee River for more than 20 years, and has been a guide for his business, Caloosahatchee Cowboys Charters, for more than a decade.
Constantine said the arapaima might be the closest thing to a tarpon, which is a big, athletic fish native to Florida’s waters and a popular species for game fishermen. Like tarpon, arapaima are capable of jumping out of the water for food and their prey include small mammals, lizards, birds and other fish.
The Burmese python, green iguana and lionfish are, by now, well-known invasive species that have established a dangerous foothold in Florida. But a fearsome new.
New Florida Invasive Species: a 10-Foot-Long River Monster nbcconnecticut.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from nbcconnecticut.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
New Florida invasive species: A 10-foot-long river monster sfgate.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from sfgate.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.