A huge Burmese python was spotted coiled up in the water in an area near Windstar on Naples Bay, Florida. Stephen Ionnotta, a captain with Ms. B. Haven Fishing & Eco Charters out of Port O Call Marina, caught the 8-foot long python Thursday.

Iannotta said he spotted the python swimming across Naples Bay and this was the first time he had seen this type of reptile in the area.

“It was kind of lethargic. It looked like it had been swimming for a while,” Iannotta said, adding: “I’ve never seen a python swimming across the bay like that and I’ve had many hours and days that I’ve driven through there."

Burmese pythons and other large pythons are “excellent” swimmers, Vittoria Vaturi, a reptile keeper at the Naples Zoo, told local media. While Burmese pythons — which can grow to 23 feet long and weigh 200 pounds — typically swim in freshwater, they can tolerate saltwater in small amounts, Vaturi added.

Mike Bailey, the owner of Ms. B Haven Fishing and Eco Charters out of Port O' Call Marina, said that seeing a python swimming along the Gulf coast is rare.

Bailey and Iannotta believe the snake might have swum from an area of mangroves along the coast or from a freshwater canal that flows into the bay.

python
This representational image shows a python on a tree inside his enclosure at the Dhupguri snake park in India, Feb. 8, 2006. REUTERS/Rupak De Chowdhuri
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