Alexander Springs Dive

[Scubastud16]

Those are awesome fish, we've had some in fish tanks. I'm looking forward to diving there soon.

 

[427Dave]

 

[427Dave]

I was trying to load the fish pictures, oh well, Now I can NOT get them deleted.


Apparently you can not use scubaboard photos and must upload them to something photobucket.

 

[427Dave]

darn it, sorry. If there is a mod around you can delete these, please

 

[Crazy Fingers]

Yep, those are plecostomus. They are not native to Florida waters and it is believed they started here by people releasing them from aquariums. There are several different species running around, some prettier than others. Most all of the ones you see are all black, or have very small yellow honeycomb patterns on them. Some of the prettier ones have a lot of yellow or orange on them, but they are quite rare to find in the wild (in FL). And yes, they do breathe air. This behavior is easily seen at Blue Spring where they are constantly coming up to take a gulp. They are most fun to chase at this point.

Last time we went to Alexander, there were some huge tilapia in there too. They are also not a native fish, but are quite good to eat. They are lucky that they're safe from the speargun in there! Spring Water + Tilapia + Freshly Killed = Yummy Dinner!!

 

[phoneman]

I was there in Jan. and the grassy area was roped off because of two large gators in there. The plecostomus were thick and almost everywhere. If you took your time you could work your way into the middle of the large school laying on the bottom of the spring. The gators seemed to have run off a lot of the other life usually seen there bass,specks ect..