Would you like to have a pet lungfish?

[frogmarch]

I saw West African lungfish (Protopterus annectens) for sale online for $59.99

Description snip:

Named for their unique, lung-like organ that allows them to breathe atmospheric air, lungfish are able to survive in water with essentially no dissolved oxygen and even long periods of drought. Juvenile lungfish feed largely on insect larvae, while adults are omnivorous, feeding on crustaceans, snails, freshwater clams, and generally anything else they can fit in their large, powerful jaws. In the aquarium, they are a hardy and adaptable species but should ideally be kept alone or with very fast-moving tankmates as they are likely to take bites out of other fish.

Lungfish and their sisters, the coelacanths, have always fascinated me. Most scientists believe lungfish to be ancestral to the first land animals.

They're interesting, but now that I know what their personalities are like, I've decided I don't want one.

[TheRealNorth]

1. Not like we need more invasive species...

[frogmarch]

3. How is

living in a home aquarium an invasion?

jfc

[WhiteTara]

6. there are many invasions started by

people who put creatures into tanks, realize they are out of their league and in an effort to be "humane" they are flushed down a toilet and set loose in a drain and then and then and then.

[TheRealNorth]

7. Or they are just released into the environment

https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/minnesota-hunter-comes-across-3-foot-long-baby-alligator/

[frogmarch]

8. Thanks for the link.

You were right in what you said in your reply to my opening post, and I apologize for my snippy, uninformed comeback.

[frogmarch]

9. Yikes!

I didn't know flushing fish down toilets or pouring them down drains could cause invasions!

Thanks for the info! Holy crap!

[hlthe2b]

2. Nope... They'll eat everything you put in there. Like snakes, I'm fascinated, but have no need to

keep one.

[Bayard]

4. Are those rudimentary legs?

[frogmarch]

5. I found this

https://animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/west-african-lungfish

Measuring up to a little over three feet (one meter) in length at adulthood, African lungfish look like eels with long, thin limbs that allow them to lift and propel themselves forward. They can also take alternating “steps” with these rear “fins,” giving them little hop-like movements.

[Bayard]

10. That settles it

I definitely do not want one.