Duo break into fish farm to take exotic fish that grows to 440 pounds, Florida cops say

Mark Price, The Charlotte Observer on Jan 17, 2025

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An exotic fish that can reach 14 feet landed two men in hot water, after they tried to sneak it out of a Florida fish farm, investigators say.

It happened around midnight Monday, Jan. 13, at an aquaculture facility in Arcadia, about a 90-mile drive southeast from Tampa.

The DeSoto County Sheriff’s office says deputies were at the farm to investigate reports of “suspicious activity,” according to a Jan. 16 news release.

A search of the perimeter led to an unattended pickup loaded with “multiple fishing rods, lures, a fishing net, and other fishing gear,” according to an affidavit.

Deputies then discovered a 28-inch Arapaima in a gray plastic tote that had been fitted with a battery-operated air pump, officials said. The species is native to South America and one of that size is worth $1,000, the affidavit states.

Two men carrying fishing poles later arrived on foot, and one told deputies he been fishing in one of the farm’s greenhouses and caught the Arapaima, the report states.

The men, who are ages 23 and 29, were arrested and charged with “trespassing, burglary, and grand theft of a commercially farmed animal,” the sheriff’s office said.

“The fish was safely returned back to the property manager,” officials said.

Arapaima are “among the largest known freshwater fish species with sizes up to 14 feet and 440 pounds,” the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission reports.

A permit is required to keep them in Florida, including aquaculture facilities that raise them for food, the FWC says.

There are reports of Arapaima being found in southwest Florida waterways, but “there is no indication that they are reproducing,” the state says.

“Arapaima grow rapidly and can reach 3 feet and 20 pounds in their first year and five feet and 90 pounds by their fourth year,” the FWC says.

“This predator is opportunistic and may consume a variety of invertebrate and vertebrate species due to their large mouth size. They have been known to leap out of the water to capture prey in their native range.”

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