Exotic Animals Established in Alabama

Exotic Animals Established in Alabama

The terms exotic* species, introduced species, and nonindigenous species describe animal species that have been brought to a new location by man, either on purpose or by accident, and have become established. 

Exotic fish in (at least some basins of) Alabama include:
goldfish
grass carp
red shiner
carp
silver carp
bighead carp
fathead minnow
bigmouth buffalo (nonindigenous to the Cahaba River)
white catfish
muskellunge
rainbow trout
brown trout
brook stickleback
redbreast sunfish (native to the Chattahoochee basin and possibly Coosa and Tallapoosa)
smallmouth bass (native in the Tennessee basin)
yellow perch (native in the Mobile Delta)

Other exotic aquatic animals include:
Asiatic clam
zebra mussel
quagga mussels

Exotic mammals, birds, amphibians and reptiles in Alabama include:
fallow deer
wild hogs
nutrina
collard doves
European starlings
English sparrows
greenhouse frog
Ouachita map turtle
Texas Horned Lizard 
Mediterranean house gecko
Indo-Pacific gecko
brown anole

(*Some use the term exotics for species from other countries.)

Read to find out what you can do to prevent the spread of aquatic nuisance species.

It shall be unlawful to intentionally stock or release any fish, mussel, snail, crayfish or their embryos including bait fish into the public waters of Alabama under the jurisdiction of the Division of Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries as provided in Rule 220-2-.42 except those waters from which it came without the written permission of a designated employee of the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources authorized by the Director of the Division of Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries to issue such permit. The provisions of this rule shall not apply to the incidental release of bait into the water during the normal process of fishing.