"The harassment by the catfish indirectly affects the manatees that are then more prone to cold stress."
-- Melissa Gibbs, a biology professor at Stetson University
Watching manatees gather in the crystalline waters of Blue Spring is one of the region’s outdoor treasures.
Increasingly, however, it’s been a bit of a creep show: manatees are being sucked on by dark, plated, spiny and air-breathing invaders.
Rather than gorging on blood or flesh, the fish are eating algae growing on manatees, but that still freaks out and endangers the big animals, which is a key reason for the start of another season of hunting and killing the sailfin suckermouth catfish.
Read more at the Orlando Sentinel