A Burmese python has been spotted in Biscayne Bay – a first for Biscayne National Park and another sign that the state's out-of-control pythons are getting more adept to inhibiting the state's salty fringes.
The Miami Herald reports that in November, a kayaker found a 9-foot python sunning on a platform more than a half mile offshore in Biscayne Bay. University of Florida wildlife biologist Frank Mazzotti says the sighting confirms pythons are equally comfortable in open water as they are in freshwater marshes and mangroves.
The snakes became established around 2000, but biologists still have no reliable way to control them. In September, state wildlife biologists confirmed for the first time that pythons are now breeding in the Keys.
Anyone who sees a python at the Biscayne National Park is urged to report it at 305-230-1144.
