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Well before the sun rises in Orlando, joggers making their laps around Lake Underhill Park are joined by fishermen outfitting their kayaks on the edge of the boat ramp. Rods and lures safely stowed, the paddling anglers head past the swampy banks and cast their lines through the reeds and lily pads.
It’s a regular steamy summer morning for the locals, but on this day, there will also be strangers above and below the waters of the lake.
SUVs with government tags pull up, hauling a boat emblazoned with US Department of Interior branding. Out of them come scientists, also here to fish, but not for the bream and sunfish that are being caught and released for sport.
Their target is an invasive creature now known to lurk beneath the surface, carrying parasites, damaging waterways and threatening native species: the Asian swamp eel.
The first swamp eel – which isn’t a “true eel” - was found in this part of Florida was in 2023, and they’ve also been discovered as far north as New Jersey. The scientists from the US Geological Survey and other agencies are here with their own nets to see what the situation is like now, to try to pinpoint new populations and figure out how they got there.
They’re planning an eel version of a “fish slam,” when they catch as many of a single species in a day as possible to survey population growth and geographical spread.
Read more on their efforts to learn about invasive species at the link in our bio.
