A Miami teenager has rewritten the Florida record books for jaguar guapote, a colorful freshwater fish found in the urban canals of Southeast Florida. Xzavier Peon, 16, caught the record-breaking fish in the Westwood Lakes area of Miami, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
The fish weighed 3.02 pounds and measured 16 inches in length — enough to topple a record that had stood for nine years. The jaguar guapote first became eligible for state record status in 2012, and the previous record had been set in 2017.
Peon was using live bait when he hooked the fish, and he wasn't immediately sure what he'd caught. "When I hooked it, I thought it was a peacock bass," Peon said in a statement. "But once the giant jaguar came up, I knew that it was a state record almost instantly. We started freaking out once we realized it was a state record."
Jaguar guapote are non-native fish that have established themselves in the canal systems running through Miami-Dade and surrounding counties, making South Florida one of the few places in the U.S. where anglers can target the species. Their striking spotted pattern makes them a memorable catch for any angler, regardless of size.
This story was originally reported by NBC 6 South Florida.
