In Mexico, fishermen call them "devil fish." They came from Brazil about 20 years ago and have now overrun lakes and rivers across North America.
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00:00 Fishermen in Mexico call this a devil fish.
00:04 The invasive catfish is originally from the Amazon rainforest,
00:09 but it's become a plague across North America,
00:13 decimating native species in rivers and lakes.
00:17 Today it makes up about 70% of the daily catch for fishermen in Tabasco.
00:23 Too much.
00:25 For years, no one would buy them, let alone eat them.
00:29 Many people were shocked because they didn't know this fish.
00:34 But that's starting to change.
00:36 One entrepreneur in California figured out how to turn the devils into dog treats.
00:43 Good boy.
00:45 But can he convince people to try them too?
00:48 He presented me with a strange black fish, and I said, "What is this?"
00:52 So what is the true cost of the devil fish invasion?
00:55 And is this a problem that we and our pets can eat our way out of?
01:00 Juan Carlos Mendoza makes his way to Laguna Santa Anita almost every day before dawn to check on his nets.
01:13 These days, he knows exactly what he'll find.
01:17 Just getting devil fish out of the net can be hard work.
01:22 Their thick, rough fins and scales can cut through skin, and they regularly break the nets.
01:28 Juan Carlos has been a fisherman for 30 years.
01:44 Devil fish are the bulk of his catch now, but before 2007, he'd never even seen one of these.
01:51 The armored catfish is a freshwater fish native to the Amazon, where it goes by a different name, akari.
01:58 So how did they get here?
02:01 They've always been a favorite in aquariums because they eat the algae that can pollute tanks.
02:06 It's thought that people may have dumped them into the waterways here once they got too big,
02:11 or released them intentionally to combat algae in the rivers.
02:15 But once in the wild, these sucker mouse flourished, disturbing the sediment,
02:20 uprooting aquatic plants, and destroying the habitats of native species.
02:25 They also outcompete other fish for food and nesting sites.
02:29 Unlike in their native Brazil, here they have few predators.
02:33 And there's plenty of uninterrupted sunlight, which allows them to breed year-round.
02:38 It's not just a problem in Mexico.
02:41 Researchers in Texas removed over 400 of them from a single river in 2022.
02:47 And in Florida, they're also bothering endangered manatees, clinging onto their backs and feeding on the algae.
02:54 In the U.S., they're called plecos, but in Mexico, it's pes diablo, or devil fish.
03:01 The name most likely comes from the reservoir where they were discovered, El Infernillo, which translates to "little hell."
03:08 When the people found out, they took pictures, and some said it was poisonous, that it wasn't edible, and all that.
03:18 Today, the 50 or so fishermen who work these waterways catch around two tons of devil fish per week.
03:25 For generations, they made a living off of perelejarto, tilapia, mojada, and snook.
03:34 And back then, they could capture up to six tons of native species a week.
03:39 But when devil fish took over, fishermen had to find other work, since their catch was unsellable.
03:45 Tabasco is home to about a third of Mexico's freshwater, so it's no surprise that this is where the armored catfish has done the most damage.
04:03 And for years, its name and reputation preceded it.
04:07 Mike Mitchell started studying the invaders' impact on Tabasco back in 2014, determined to find a solution.
04:25 At first, he tried turning them into fish jerky, before joining forces with a local chef to encourage more people to eat it.
04:33 But it's Mike's most recent project that is starting to have an impact, not only on fishing communities, but also on dogs and cats, nearly 3,000 miles away in California.
04:44 He's making pet treats called pezi.
04:48 So now, instead of throwing their catch of devil fish away, Juan Carlos and his brother Francisco take it to a nearby processing facility.
04:56 This way, they could double or even triple their daily income.
05:12 Mike employs about 10 people to prepare the devil fish for shipping.
05:16 We developed our own specialized fillet technique to fillet this fish as efficiently as possible.
05:22 And so now we have a team of folks that are trained up in processing this fish.
05:27 These fish can survive out of water for up to four hours.
05:35 So they're still alive while being scrubbed clean.
05:38 And then gutted.
05:40 And cut into fillets.
05:46 Their tough skin makes them particularly difficult to handle.
05:50 Workers then inspect the fillets and remove any excess skin or bones.
06:11 To prepare for shipping, Francisco lets the fillets defrost for two days before thinly slicing them.
06:17 Next, he places them on a tray that will spend 12 hours in a dehydration machine.
06:23 Until the pieces look like this.
06:26 He fills and seals the bags before they're sent to California.
06:31 Roughly five days later, the shipment reaches Mike's kitchen in San Francisco.
06:37 So we like to say that we own this fish from the water to your pet's plate.
06:42 This is where he does what's called a kill step, or heat treatment.
06:47 He bakes the dehydrated fillets at 275 degrees for 10 minutes.
06:52 Alright, fish is done. It's coming out.
06:56 We put it on our cooling racks.
06:59 Then he packs everything by hand.
07:02 And right now, Mike mostly does it all on his own.
07:05 The finished product ends up at pet stores like Jeffery's.
07:09 Pezzi also has treats made from lionfish and silver carp,
07:15 which are invasive in places like Florida and Illinois.
07:18 Devilfish is the company's original product,
07:22 and it's been a big hit with cats and dogs since its launch in 2021.
07:26 These are low-fat treats too, so it's good.
07:28 Oh, yay!
07:30 Actually, when they come into the store, they can smell it in the bag,
07:33 and they go directly for it.
07:35 Hey, Sully, down.
07:37 And Mike hopes interest will only continue to grow from here.
07:41 We're rapidly expanding our network of fishermen that we work with in Mexico
07:46 to be able to meet demand.
07:48 Since getting started several years ago,
07:50 Mike says his team has removed 100 tons of devilfish from Tabasco's waterways.
07:56 But it'll take a lot more to fix the water problem plaguing the state.
08:00 In 2017, there were estimated to be at least 25,000 tons of this fish here.
08:06 Mike knows convincing people that the devils can be good instead of evil
08:12 is a big part of the battle.
08:14 Yet he and chef Lupita Vidal are confident they can turn the tide.
08:18 When Mike first approached her in 2015, she needed a bit of convincing.
08:23 Before serving it at her restaurant, La Cevicheria Tabasco.
08:27 Since then, it's been on her menu in the form of tacos, burgers, meatballs, and even soup.
08:33 Now she orders up to 10 kilos of devilfish weekly to make fish and chips.
08:46 The fillets are battered, threaded, and fried.
08:51 As for the taste...
08:53 But she admits it's been a hard sell.
09:18 Lupita understands why people are hesitant to try it.
09:21 But she believes restaurants like hers can help change their perception.
09:26 With people and pets slowly developing a taste for devilfish,
09:31 fishermen like Juan Carlos are learning to live with them.
09:34 Now the only time he throws them away is if they're too small to fillet just yet.
09:41 I invite you to try the fish. It's very good.
09:44 It tastes good.
09:47 Good.
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