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Project Noah Nature School
Basiliscus vittatus
Male Brown Basilisks can reach 61 cm in length and females are somewhat smaller. Their three crests are on the head, along the body and along the tail. They usually appear in brown or olive brown with black stripes. The stripes are usually only on the flanks and on the dorsal crest. They also have a white stripe, which extends from the eyes to the rear legs. The males have a larger crest than the females. (Wikipedia)
I saw this basilisk at the Shell Factory Nature Park, but he was not enclosed in any exhibit. He was spotted running around loose not far from an alligator pond. I've never seen one in Fort Myers before.
Nicknamed the "Jesus Lizard" because when fleeing from a predator, they are very fast and can even run on top of the water. Basilisks actually have large hind feet with flaps of skin between each toe. The fact that they move quickly across the water, aided by their web-like feet, gives them the appearance of "walking on water". (Wikipedia) Non-native species in Florida
Spotted on Aug 11, 2014
Submitted on Aug 12, 2014
2 Comments
Yeah, I love Florida! I grew up here and I've seen some really cool reptiles. I recently attended a class at our local environmental center that was all about lizards and the biologist there did mention the basilisks are in lee county but their not sure if their breeding. That was the first one I've ever seen, it was pretty exciting.
Florida is such a crazy place with so many tropical non-native species! Cool spotting and I think it is worth reporting to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. They keep records of new non-native species populations across the state and I'm not sure they have any records of this species loose in the Fort Meyers (Lee County?) area.