Rare South American fish found in Walsall canal
A tropical fish usually found in the waters of the Amazon basin has been rescued from a Black Country canal.
As the Canal and River trust carried out maintenance work at the Walsall Canal, staff stumbled upon the leopard pleco, which is usually found in South America.
John Ellis, national fisheries and angling manager with the trust, said that the fish would not have survived the autumn season unless it had been found.
He said: "They are quite a rare fish over here but if you do find them, they are usually pets.
"Somebody has clearly discarded this in the canal thinking that was a wise idea, but the fact is it would have died fairly soon.
"It is healthy and being looked after by us now, but I have never seen anything like this in a canal in this area.
"It is actually doing a good job for us as it feeds off the algae at the side of its tank, so we don't have to clean that now."
The canal was drained between lock one and two for the work by MEN Fisheries on August 7 before an electric current was passed through the water to temporarily stun the fish so they could be gathered in a net and removed.
