Great Blue with dinner

This Great Blue Heron has captured a "Plecostomus". Hypostomus plecostomus, the suckermouth catfish or common pleco, is a tropical fish belonging to the armored catfish family (Loricariidae). This species' native range is tropical South America. They are large algae eaters, and are extremely popular in aquaria for their ability to clean tanks by eating algae. They are an invasive species released in Florida thanks to the pet industry.

neat capture, Ira

Here are some more shots.........

1.

nice. some big dinner

Man oh man how is he going to eat that! I know, but wow is that a big fish. Good captures Ira.

Great shots. My niece has one of these fish in her aquarium! Did you take those at Viera? Great site.

(I wish people would stop dumping their pet fish into our waters. We see Moorish Idols, Lion Fish and other exotics pretty much on a regular basis diving down here in S. Florida.)

bettyn wrote in post #14792163
Great shots. My niece has one of these fish in her aquarium! Did you take those at Viera? Great site.

(I wish people would stop dumping their pet fish into our waters. We see Moorish Idols, Lion Fish and other exotics pretty much on a regular basis diving down here in S. Florida.)

There is a canal on the north side of the Viera Wetlands that runs out to the St. Johns River, and these shots were taken in that canal about 4 miles west of the wetlands.

As to the Lion Fish, they have been seen off the Brevard County coast also.

Beautiful shots.

Action packed! Very nice.

Great shots! He's gonna have a heck of a time swallowing it... Pleco's have 2 fins (one on each side) that lock outwards.. making swallowing nearly impossible for other fish. Not to mention, that they're almost all bone/plates.

Nice series! Love the details and the lighting. Were they captured with the Canon 70-300 or Tamron 200-500?

IraRunyan wrote in post #14792718
There is a canal on the north side of the Viera Wetlands that runs out to the St. Johns River, and these shots were taken in that canal about 4 miles west of the wetlands.

As to the Lion Fish, they have been seen off the Brevard County coast also.

Not surprised, Ira. Are they allowing cars in Viera now? When we were there, it was only foot traffic, maybe because there were a lot of baby birds in nests then.

WOW, that is a big fish!

I agree people are morons. They don't want to kill the fish they never should have bought in the first place. So they release it into the wild to be killed by proxy, or worse kill thousands of others by proxy The pet stores are partly to blame for selling the fish to unsuspecters. However information is WIDELY available so people who buy these fish are just as much to blame, if not more. It would be nice if one of these people were actually caught, then fined up the wazoo. I guess one can only dream.

There is a big list of aquarium fish that should be banned. The aquarium trade need also be regulated better.

Great shots! How is such a skinny necked bird gonna swallow such a fat dinner lol?

There is us much wrong with the pet industry I don't even know where to begin. Pet stores giving out false information on the animal just to get it sold, like that MYTH that a fish will only grow as big as the tank size allows it to. People who don't care enough in the first place and release them in the wild is certainly part of the problem as well. Banning them outright isn't the answer, nor is killing the fish when it has outgrown your tank. It is possible to find an adult Pleco the right sized tank, but it needs to be huge. Banning them and other "exotics" (some types of birds- namely parrots; reptiles; etc) only prevents the animal from finding a home with a very well experienced private owner. Zoos and speciality rescues are over flowing with these and other exotic house pet rejects. These fish and others can and do make wonderful pets, but only in the hands of very experienced people with the right set up.

Massive government regulation is not the answer here. Itll be some blanket regulation that was much further reaching consequences than merely preventing a Pleco being sold to some clueless dude. What does need to happen is big name pet outlets need to STOP carrying any kind of animal and the same goes for mom n pop shops who dont care enough to give out accurate information. I boycott all pet stores that don't do this, which means I get all my pet care stuff from live animal free websites. More can be accomplished accurately educating the general public who is interested in obtaining a pet than by government regulating it.

bettyn wrote in post #14793123
Not surprised, Ira. Are they allowing cars in Viera now? When we were there, it was only foot traffic, maybe because there were a lot of baby birds in nests then.

If it rains heavy, they close the Viera Wetlands to cars to try to preserve the roads. Maintaining those dirt roads is expensive. There is a telephone number you can call to see if the roads are open. Information can be found here: http://flwildlife.prob​oards.com …action=display&​thread=119