The big white fish is back! I assume it went somewhere, as Lake Ella is pretty small and very shallow, overall. During the drought I bet the pond was disconnected from other waterways (this is Florida; whether you see them or not, there are always connections to other waterways! It’s how the gators get in), but this morning it showed up swimming around in the muck. I managed to get a very bad photo of it, since phone cameras do have their limits:
You can’t tell from this photo but it’s about as long as my forearm! I snapped the pic and kept walking, but then! On the other side of the pond! There were more fish!!!
There were three of them, two white and one bright red. They were close enough to the edge that I could see them clearly as they frolicked. I’m pretty sure they are decorative Koi fish that were probably flushed down a drain or dumped out somewhere. That of course is awful and makes them an invasive species, so I’ve decided to call them the direfish of Lake Ella. No real logic to that, honestly, it just sounds ominous.
I’m honestly surprised one of the hawks haven’t tried for them, but then, these are pretty damn big direfish overall. It would take a determined hawk to heft one of them out the water, and there is easier prey around.