Peacock Bass in Miami

What is Peacock Bass?

Peacock Bass is a freshwater fish that is native to Amazon basins in South America, as well as rivers of Brazil, Colombia, and Guiana. They were introduced by the anglers or sometimes escaped from the fish farms. This has resulted that they get a foothold in tropical regions all over the world such as Hawaii, Taiwan, and Malaysia.

Peacock Bass is a predatory fish feeding live fish. They basically neither hunt dead baits nor react to lures that move slowly. They are considered game fish like Large Mouth Bass. Anglers love them because of their fighting qualities and the colorful skin pattern.

Peacock Bass in Miami

Back in the 1960s, Florida officials initiated non-native fish assessment program. After 10 years of the dedicated study, it had completed in the late 1970. In early 1980s, some illegally introduced exotic fishes had become extremely abundant in Miami. In 1984, Florida officials deliberately introduced Butterfly Peacock Bass and Speckled Peacock Bass to the southern region of Florida to prey on other non-native species.

The introduction of the peacock bass has been successfully reducing the abundance of some exotic fishes while having no known detrimental effects on native fishes. At the same time, it has generated millions of hours of fishing pleasure for thousands of urban anglers.

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