: Bonefish are one of the world's most
highly-prized game fish, but they are rarely found in Southwest Florida. One group was lucky enough to make the rare
catch.
About a dozen Sanibel students found the special
fish in their small nets while on an educational field trip. It was a fun find
for the kids and a big breakthrough for fish experts.
Dragging their nets to shore, the
Sanibel Sea School students spotted something special buried beneath
the group of fish.
The camp kids anxiously placed two silvery bonefish
into an ice bucket for safekeeping - fish rarely seen by the scientific
community in Sanibel.
'One of the reasons they're being spotted now is
because we're out looking for them,' said Dr. Bruce Neill, Director of the
Sanibel Sea School.
Neill says it's been two weeks since a few
6-year-olds and their camp counselor witnessed the first unique
catch.
'I got on the radio right away and called Bruce and
told him and he didn't even believe me. He thought they might have been another
species until we identified them. And, they were definitely bonefish,' said
Taylor Walker, one of the students who found the fish.
'Well, it was really cool because we caught all
sorts of fish and we were by the mangroves and it was really fun,' Emma Neill
who also found the fish.
Bruce Neill says he isn't quite sure why bonefish
are swimming to Sanibel's beaches.
'It may be a combination of salinity, it may be a
combination of temperature and a variety of parameters. But clearly we have
habitats here suitable for bonefish and perhaps bonefish will expand their
ranges and in five years there will be a bone fishery here,' said Dr.
Neill.
Bonefish could bring in quite an economic boost for
Sanibel. Neill says bonefish draw in about $1 billion a year for tourism -
mostly in the Florida
Keys.
While the bonefish may give local scientists
something to think about, for the kids in Sanibel they're simply a priceless
treasure in their aquarium tank.
Neill says the camp has donated some of the
bonefish samples to the Florida Wildlife Research Institute for
Study.
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