A Delta Airlines flight approaching an airport soaked by Tropical Storm Fay was delayed by four catfish that walked onto the runway. Yes, that's right, they walked, and the plane couldn't land until airport officials dispatched a crew to round up the wayward fish.
The fish were unavailable for comment, but it seems they were displaced by the flooding that's made Florida soggier than usual and left Melbourne International Airport besieged by snakes, tortoises and a wayward alligator.
But walking catfish?
Clarias batrachus
(for you ichthyologist Autopians) are freshwater, air-breathing catfish that use pectoral fins to stay upright as they wriggle across the ground. They came to Florida by way of Thailand, Malaysia and other parts of Southeast Asia in the 1960s and are considered an invasive species. They've been turning up in the oddest places in recent weeks because Florida's been pounded by rain. While it's one thing to find 30 of them lumbering across the street, it's quite another to see them on the runway through the windshield of an airliner.
"We had to get the four walking catfish off the runway before Delta could land," airport operations manager Cliff Graham told the local Fox News affiliate. Airport executive director Richard Ennis added, "We all got soaked, but it was important to clear the runway and ensure passenger safety and to get the animals out of harm's way."
The ambulatory catfish are among the menagerie airport officials have had to clear from the tarmac. An indigo snake parked itself on a runway, and two gopher tortoises -- one of which was mistaken for a runway light until it moved -- took their sweet time crossing another. The catfish, like the snake, were returned to more hospitable surroundings in a nearby pond, while the tortoises were delivered to a tortoise relocation area near the airport.
As for the alligator that ambled onto the tarmac, it eventually made its way to a nearby canal without prodding from the cleanup crew.
Photo courtesy U.S. Geological Survey
