Manatee’s are dying off due to lack of sea grasses. The lack of sea grass is due to development and herbicide spraying in bodies of freshwater, canals, etc. This is just an attempt to put blame on something that has nothing to do with the real problem. If you live here and spend time outdoors you would be well aware that these fish have been here by the millions for over three decades.

Catfish: we'll clean you Manatee: I like being dirty!

I think someone should interview the manatee and find out what they feel about this.

It's like a Mosquito that gives you a bath and doesn't break your skin

I see people are saying they doubt the plecos are stressing the manatees out. I had baby plecos in a 55 gallon aquarium. They eventually scraped the paint off the decorations. I can only imagine the irritation the manatees feel with several adult plecos constantly scraping their skin. That can’t feel good.

The common pleco is very destructive. And what's worse is there are smaller varieties called the bristlenose or rubberlip pleco that stay 4-6 inches max. They look way better, easy to breed, and fairly cheap. Locally owned shops don't normally sell the common pleco but chain pet stores sell it to a kid and say a 10 gallon is fine for these when they need like 120 gallon tank to keep them well

"Imagine being swarmed by a cloud of mosquitos. That's kinda what it feels like to these sea cows." Mosquitoes are not catfish, they suck your blood and leave you itching. Plecos don't do that, they're basically cleaning the manatee. If it was harmful then there should be signs of physical damage on the skin, which there isn't. This is a distraction for the real cause of what's endangering the manatees: human activity.

Gators Farms should encourage people to catch them and donate them to them. If armor catfish could be used to feed Gators at those farms. Gators Farms should be able to pick them if that person meets the amount of LBS, in order for them to pick them up. It has to been something considerable in weight.

In México there’s a guy who’s making dog food with the catfish.👍

Pet stores/ those who sell animals MUST be regulated!!! Pet stores sell these fish as algae eaters, but what they don't emphasize is that these fish grow to HUGE sizes!

People either need to stop releasing exotic species or the exotic pet trade needs to be illegal.

Dude I'm so mad. I got ejected from blue springs national park and had to argue against a fine for filling a tube full of these pests. Even the FWC officers were giving me a hard time even though I was not spearfishing, just catching them by hand.

I feel like these arnt harming the manatees in any way. It’s easily researchable to tell what’s causing the populations to drop. It’s not the fish I’ll tell you that much.

These fish are in my area too, i am from Assam (india) . These fishes appeared out of nowhere in our district , now they are everywhere. I don't know who brought them to assam(india),but they first apeared almost 5-6 years ago.🥲🥲🥲🥲🥲🥲🥲

As an aquarium hobbyist even I say , they’ve gotta crack down on the aquarium trade

they initially only eat algae but when they get big enough they suck smaller fish right up. I've seen that a few times.

I think the humans are more stressed about this than the Manatees. 😂

This is very sad. Manatee are so awesome. I have a giant pleco, but he's in an aquarium where he belongs.

It looks like they are cleaning them up!!!

What happens when you let people import whatever they want and keep it as a pet

I am very happy that these journalists cover invasive species but why do reporters have to say such stupid things like "a cross between a cat, a fish, and armor?" Try to be professional when discussing important stories.

They look like a really primitive version of catfish, as if they haven't changed much since dinosaurs were around

Use large sized fish traps baited with algae pellets,, drop a trap in the water, wait an hour pull out empty repeat,,, Those Plecos are ravenous for algae pellets,, once catch they make great fertilizer for crops

At least the alligators figured out the placos are delicious.

Bring them to Maryland. They keep our waters clean.

She should've said flies not mosquitoes.

A Manatee being catfished never thought I'd see the day.

I had a 1 foot pleco in my fish tank. Came home from work, and that guy climbed out and went for a walk. He left the living room, went down the hallway, and went into a bedroom. He was still alive when i got home!

Lionfish, pythons and NOW WHAT ???

Those plecos are great for an aquarium. Someone had to have dumped them in the water because they were too large for their tank. Its sad that they are stressing out such a sweet amazing creature.

🤔 Can you eat these catfish? If so just catch and cook. Add them to the Florida restaurant menus! Yes?

Hard to believe NBC, those fish are invasive yes, but I think stress by catfish is the last thing manatees have to worry about. What's the main cause of their decline, stress?, don't think so

Remora often attach themselves to Manatees when they are in salt water. I doubt the plecos stress them that much. They might even appreciate the cleansing.

Local lake in LA, i whatched in the last ten years seeing one or two every year to know seeing one every 2 feet the rate at which plecos breeed is astounding

Them manatee look so clean now lol 😆 😂

STOP DUMPIMG YOUR AQUARIUM FISH IN YOUR LOCAL FRESH WATERWAYS. STOP GETTING INTO THE AQUARIUM HOBBY IF YOUR NOT SERIOUS ABOUT IT

“The aquarium trade.” Get rid of it. It serves no purpose anyway. Except to introduce invasive species.

I live near st Petersburg. I have a blue eyed, lemon longfin bristlenose pleco. They only get to about 5 inches, and he's priceless really because he's such a great example of the species, so there's no way I'd let him, or any of my fish, snails, shrimp or plants get in to the ecosystem. I live right next to a nature preserve. But yes, irresponsible fish owners, just like any irresponsible pet owner, can cause major problems

SPOILER ALERT! Plecostamus don't only eat algae, they also eat fish eggs! I used to have breeding cichlids of Rainbow Rams and Kribensis (in different tanks) and kept some plecs in with to keep the tanks clean. I kept losing egg clutches and first blamed the parents. Then checked one Night w/ a flashlite: caught two of the plecs busily sucking up eggs - parents sleeping or couldn't see it! That's probably happening in the rivers and springs where the fish Used to live. Plecostomases are just BAD NEWS ALL AROUND!

Not to mention they can live a day out of water, they are hard to kill.

Somehow sharks, whales and rays swim around with remora stuck to them their whole lives but these catfish clean the algae off manatees and it's going to be the death of them. LOL

Time to hire some trained professional spear gunners

It's humans that are hurting manatee. That's the major problem. Pollution and people releasing non-native plecos.

I'm just gonna call this out right now because I literally am a marine biologist. These catfish are not an invasive species at all. These fish can be found as far south as Brazil South America, and some parts of Florida's coast, as well as the Everglades. These fish we're always popular pets, but we're not released unlike the pythons. This news team really needs to get their issues together and actually do real research. 😅

I thought they were turning plecos into fertizer? I remember watching another video on that.

The problem here aside from the idiots that turn them loose from their aquarium is that the pet stores that sell these fish do not bother to tell people that they get huge. The local store here sells them without any forewarning about how big these fish get, how quickly they grow, and that they cannot be let loose in other environments. Humans are careless and irresponsible. That is why these things happen.

The solution is to get them from the springs after the freezes.

the thumbnail made it look like the manatee was wearing an armor helmet of atlantis

Give all the manatees and porpoises and sea lions guns! They will Stand Their Ground!

STOP SELLING THEM! common précis get released I’m sure after Pet stores say oh buy one! Not mentioning how big they get… It should be illegal to sell them

This is neither just a Florida problem nor is it just a Manatee problem. These catfish are some of the most popular in the pet trade ALL around the world anywhere there are fish keepers you will find them. Consider an Amazonian pool at the end of the dry season long since dried out and turned to soil under this dry earth you will finde them sheltering waiting fo the floods; when these waters arrive the fish are exposed to a change from dry at say 27 degrees C(Assuming day time) down into glacial run off water at say 6 C.( PH approx. 7 at source or higher due to glacial mineral content) When these pools were drying out they were concentrating the acidification caused by thousands of leaves decomposing down to a PH. of cerca 2 (or lower), acid enough to cause a tingling sensation on your hand. These natural variations in their environment meen that they have evolved the ability to live almost anywhere including short foray's out to sea ( so they follow the manatees out ). They evolved to survive any attempt to eat them from land and water based predators the amazon could offer. On one of those full size ones each extendable Gill spike will be nearly 3" ( 7cm approx) and razor sharp and they hurt so much that I think, it might be more than just a physical defence. I was spiked by a "Pet" only 12" rather than a near 3 foot wild one and I could feel it for days. Human nature Laziness, compassion and stupidity are all amongst the reasons people poot fish down the toilet or release them into the wild ,or as in florida keep them in outdoer ponds until the next flash flood washes everything away. They are the fastest speeding invasive fish on earth and need to be banned from the pet trade before they become unmanageable in more habitats. As a fish keeper myself I will continue to encourage Aquarists to speak against them in shops and clubs etc. The only way I would have one again is if I really thought that otherwise it would not be disposed of properly. Sadly a particular problem with these fish as they live for decades and will eventually outgrow all but public display sized tanks.

Probably never occurred to these experts that the Manatees might benefit from it. especially in some undiscovered way.

Fund a bounty program. $5 per catfish and see them dissappear. People will be shoulder to shoulder with fishing rods.

Armored Catfish are native to South America in the Amazon River, where they naturally cohabitate with the Amazonian Manatee.

Break out the fishing rods men!

Losing manatees would have ZERO impact on the ecosystem.

The way "plecos" rolled off that woman's tongue means she either has or has had an aquarium.

You just need to create a predator that preys on them and then it’ll be solved

There was a dead armored catfish on the bank of the hillsborough river and the flipping buzzards weren't even eating it. They tried, but the damn fish is still laying there 5 days later still undamaged!

Simple, introduce a firearm catfish. Armor is ineffective against firearms.

plecos eat more then just alge

You could argue that humans are the ultimate invasive species because we brought all the other ones to Florida.

The invasives at the southern border are doing more harm.

That's a plecostomus, and they eat algae. I find it very difficult to believe they're actually harming the manatees.

Lies, all lies

Armored catfish situation

It's amazing that some people here in these comments do not understand the meaning of an invasive species. I can't believe there are idiots that think these fish are good for Florida's ecosystem. There's even an Ecologist speaking against it!

A recent study indicates that every time a manatee dies in Florida, the State Intelligence Quotient drops 3 points.

Look like they cleaning them up. Wonder if they actually enjoy it

The manatees don’t look distressed tbh. They might enjoy it. That being said the fish is still a problem fir the ecosystem

I don't know if my comment will be read. They rarely do. But I think maybe the solution could be to create something that the algae can grow on that will attract the attention of the fish instead of the manatees?

While invasive, I don't think they are responsible for manatee population decrease, especially taking it was happening even before them.

Manatees can get cold? But they have so much blubber.

Are they even doing anything to control or eliminate them? Smh

The world is completely out of balance

New story yes, but still the only think annoying them the most are humans

How do they taste?

Encourage fishing of this species. Surely, it's edible? Home cooked catfish sounds great.

They actually dont just eat algea. They eat protein too. They just dont kill things its dead fish and eggs.

I would just tell the manatees "improvise, adapt and overcome ."

I wonder if they really know it's harming the Manatees or that's just something she imagines. Maybe having algae removed is a pleasurable experience for them.

As a fish keeper it looked more like a cleaning station to me that they have out on the coral reef , the Manatee seemed to settle in one spot and wait for the catfish to come to them. (what does cat fish taste like ? )

Pet stores will sell anything to make money, no matter how bad it turns out for all involved. There is no education until after the fact. Plecos are sold to people under the guise of cleaning home fish tanks, which they do accel at for a time, but eventually they outgrow their tanks and end up being dumped into the wild. They should be banned from being sold in the US at this point, along with many other animal species.

Imagine getting bullied by a fish

That manatee appears to be enjoying a scrub. Whats the problem?

I honestly wonder why you bother reporting on this. Yes it sucks but this has been common for almost 20 years now in Florida. I’ve been seeing news of this exact thing with plecos since I was a kid. I’m 27 now. The simple truth is this species like the peacock bass, redtail catfish, and many more are fully established. It’s to late to be doing anything so why is this news worthy? Invasive also implies its invading, the invading process is over its fully established, and a native species at this point as it has reproduced in Florida. In fact after 20 years most of these fish born in the waters probably are from Florida.

Company creates new theory. "We think that MAYBE the cleaning algae catfish stress out the cows. We think that MAYBE the cows underwater have to flick their tails and bodies like the land cows do with flies. We think that MAYBE this will annoy them and they will leave areas where we monitor them underwater. We want to create a new study about this and we need funding for this study to decide on whether our MAYBE is a PROBABLY and/or LIKELY." All this matters because you are not going to be able to wipe out these catfish, just like you will not wipe out the Lionfish. Florida is changing. Pythons, Indian peacocks, Iguana's, Lionfish, Snakefish, and everything else prove that humans change the landscapes. At some point you have to try and take back what you can with overhunting or you have be ready to realize that the old nature is gone and the new nature is here. My solution is to open up a restaurant that serves all these up and let them have teams of hunters that provide these animals as a dish and use the pelts and skins where you can.

They are edible I hear. Just an idea if true. I'm not a fan of these being in the aquarium hobby due to them getting so big. I don't believe they should be banned, but I think it should be made clear in stores of how big they will actually get and what tank size is needed for an adult (not baby). It sounds like these particular types of pleco are just annoying the manatee while cleaning it. But I think the manatee's food source scarcity and motorboats are a way bigger threat to their lives.

I live in a community in Florida with a large spring in the neighborhood. It is literally right next to my house, along with the Little Wekiva river flowing in and then out. I have witnessed the destruction these fish have and are doing. Since people can not be trusted to be responsible the United States needs to outlaw all imports of animals. Also, outlaw the breeding of animals that are not indigenous to the region. I know that Florida's farming and agriculture industries are of plants and animals that are not indigenous, but we can at least try to slow down our destruction of the remaining nature.

We need to save our manatees

The roe of these particular catfish are highly prized and extremely expensive in Europe. Nobody takes advantage of this in Florida. Seems like a hell of a business opportunity. There are millions of pounds of them infesting Florida fresh waterways. There is a market for the smaller brown hoplo armored catfish here though.

Aw the poor manatee swarmed as it was sitting on the bottom XD

They should be banned from the aquarium hobby! Aquarium stores (not all) are being just as irresponsible as the people letting them go into the local water ways. Can’t traps somehow be set for them to remove them? Ship them back to where they came from.

I love how the sea cow explains the sea cow situation

Only in florida. If that catfish was in NY...that armor would be illegal to own.

Teach kids not to polute the waterways. Children listen. They wont throw in these pets.

Of course in Florida they believe a catfish is a cat mixed with a fish hahha

If you turn up the speed to 1.5, they talk to you normal instead of slowly like you're stooopid

Maybe DeSantis should close his costal borders and get rid of this invasive caravans of fish.

Those fish can be found in certain countries in South America. So, who is complaining? How did they become invasive? For sure, they don't have passports.