If you want to stay safe from mosquito-borne illnesses on one side and harsh chemicals on the other, the ideal solution is a natural predator of mosquito larvae — and Florida's Brevard County has found one in the form of the mosquitofish.
These fish may be tiny, a real small fry, but each one can eat 100 mosquito larvae a day. They can do their job in both fresh and salt water, and the county is offering them for free to locals who want to release them into ponds on their property, Florida Today reported.
"If we release enough of these, we don't have to do any treatment," said Jonathan Linder, environmental section supervisor for Brevard County Mosquito Control, per Florida Today.
Normally, mosquito prevention measures in the area include spraying and using drones to drop mosquito-targeting bacteria. What was once a seasonal effort is now year-round due to the rising global temperatures.
All that effort is necessary because mosquitoes carry disease. Brevard County is under a mosquito-borne illness advisory due to a locally acquired case of dengue fever.
St. Johns County is also under an advisory, and Escambia and Miami-Dade counties are under a mosquito-borne illness alert.
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Dengue is a potentially serious condition that can present with high fever, headache, rash, nausea, vomiting, and severe joint, muscle, and bone pain. Some cases are less severe, but some can be life-threatening. Other serious diseases can also be transmitted by mosquitoes.
To stop the spread, officials are encouraging the adoption of mosquitofish. They are also urging residents to get rid of any standing water in their yards — even so much as an upturned bottlecap — and to turn in old tires, which are a particularly notorious breeding ground for mosquito eggs and larvae.
Don't forget the bug spray, and wear long clothes when you go outside.
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