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Interior crocodile alligator 
I drive a catfish DNA combinator
TL;DR they're trying to use alligator DNA to make catfish more resistant to infections in fish farms. >

Exactly - they'll be "nearly identical to the farm-raised catfish sold in grocery stores".
Unless they aren't. >

Life, uh, finds a way. >

Bob Ross as a geneticist:  "Happy little accidents" >

I always wondered, growing up, where my dad got that quote from.. >

Mom said I was a happy accident. Dad told me I was planned. Either Dad is trying to spare my feelings in some way or it is a testament to how poor my parent’s communication was back then. I find both explanations equally plausible. >

Schrödinger's pregnancy? >

Schrödinger's condom (the pregnancy was observable). >

Southerners must be looking forward to going catfish noodling in hard mode. >

Time to level up >

'Bama finally got smart enough to science and this is what they did >

Wait til they figure out how to reverse the deleterious effects of inbreeding >

Mother of God >

Yeah, she can bang the son of God. >

Can we call them Ali-cats for short? >

I will have one Cattigator >

Coming up, valued customer!  Have you signed our liability waiver and non-disclosure agreement already or should I bring that right over to you? >

Sounds like a direct to video horror movie plot >

Never go back to alligator-catfish lake >

Transgenic, not hybrids. Maybe that word is too complicated for Alabama? >

I ain’t eatin no woke TRANS fish!!!
/s if you haven’t figured that out yet. >

But Marrying your first cousin is a tradition >

Russia is the Motherland, Germany is the Fatherland, and Alabama is the Kissin' Cousinland. >

Dear God, they didn't mix in any raptor DNA did they? >

No, just the complete DNA of a frog to fill in the holes >

Wait, really? >

Sharktapus has entered the chat. >

Those movies are worth the watch just for the terrible CGI. >

i loved drink watching mega shark vs giant octopus. lol. >

I'm on board. Alligator taste better than catfish lol. >

As an ex Cajun my first thought was hungry >

Hillbilly Frankenstein. >

I for one welcome our catigator overloads. >

You say sterile but nature always finds a way. >

163 comments and not one of you called it a Gatfish. >

When they can engineer them to carry a glock, I'll call them gatfish... >

Same thing with salmon and eels >

Definition of "hybrid" - The offspring of genetically dissimilar parents or stock, especially the offspring produced by breeding plants or animals of different varieties, species, or races.
As u/jungles_fury noted, the genetically modified catfish are not hybrids. >

Half cat alligator half fish🎵🎶 >

The article mentioned catfish being sold in grocery stores "nationwide" but that's not really the case. I mostly lived in Oregon and D.C. and you generally only find it at Southern BBQ restaurants, though seafood shops sometimes have it. To be clear, I have always lived in very urban areas, so I don't know what's going on in rural areas. But because of logistical supply channels, I would be very surprised if there was much catfish.
I saw this on google:

Texans consume more catfish than residents of four other southern states combined. The study concluded the residents of Texas then consumed nearly 109 million pounds of catfish a year. That’s more than the residents of Alabama (30 million), Arkansas (18 million), Louisiana (28 million) and Mississippi (18 million) combined (94 million pounds). >

Having been to Texas a few times, I knew they weren’t the sharpest tools in the shed. But this really confirms my suspicions. Do they not have any other non-garbage fish in Texas? >

Still half asleep, I read this as "alligator-crawfish hybrid"... >

Just imagine the canasta solos >

Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether they could, they didn't stop to think if they should. >

I wouldn't want to be noodling for catfish when one of those showed up. >

Shit, have you seen how big a catfish can get already!? >

So long as they are also domesticated. If you can't pet them then you shouldn't be making them in a lab. >

Do people not watch sci-fi movies????? >

Did anyone immediately think of the Catgators from Avatar: the Last Airbender that were kept as pets by the Foggy Swamp Tribe of waterbenders? >

There is no Catagators in Ba Sing Se >

and they're going to release them into the everglades? >

Wake up! They are trying to make a Garnado!! >

Grabbling will never be the same… >

“To prevent this, they used the CRISPR gene-editing tool to remove a catfish gene associated with reproduction. They replaced it with the alligator gene. With these genes swapped, the hybrid catfish are unable to reproduce.”
In the immortal words of Dr. Ian Malcolm “…life, uh, finds a way.” >

"I'll be in my bunk." -- SyFy, probably >

I was freaking out until I read “Alabama lab” and I thought “you know what? That checks out.” >

Most appropriate state for this to happen in >

There's a joke to be made about cross-breeding in Alabama. >

one more step until a crocaduck >

As someone with a background in genetics, this comment section is incredibly depressing. >

Lol..I wouldn't assume that everyone who cracks a joke or expresses concern really believes Catagators are about to start snatching up family pets. There are however  legitimate concerns regarding projects like these, and potential unforseen side effects or consequences of these modified organisms coming in contact with natural populations. Fish farming is already having negative effects on wild populations. Personally I'm a proponent of CRSPR tech, if it's pursued responsibly. >

They would be AliCats. >

I'll accept it, carry on. >

This was a movie.  Something about...um...life finding a way.... >

Now add crawdad and we're talking >

You know, if they keep at it they could engineer a layzyman's lowcountry boil. >

+1 for super science! >

But how do they taste? >

Like chicken. >

People wouldn't be anti-GMO if it was identified in a way they can understand. GMO from like species, GMO from unlike species, and GMO from synthetic genes. 
If we explain it to people how it works in nature and is protective and beneficial, people will be more accepting. 
I believe in Florida, they are using broccoli genes to protect our oranges from a pathogen that prevents the fruit from maturing. The pathogen is destroying the crops. It could put the fruit into extinction, like a banana variety we once ate 50 years ago >

And if the media didn't write headlines like this because this is not a hybrid. >

Yeah but what do they taste like? >

These are gonna be fucking delicious. >

Next up on "damn nature, you scary" : a10 warthog-himars-catfish hybrids >

Thanks, nightmare fuel. >

Am I the only one who thinks this may not be a good idea? >

It's fun to play god though. >

Always wanted to punch a slaughterfish in the face in real life >

Noodlin' just got real. >

🎶Set my lines by the river bed. Caught ten fish and I killed ‘em dead. Cut ‘em and gut ‘em and toss their heads in the river to keep them cat-gators fed🎶 >

Why not start with a non-trash fish like salmon >

What could possibly go wrong with this?
It’s like a headline from a disaster movie’s opening credits. >

You know those movies aren’t written by really well educated people, right? >

No. Tell me more. >

Horror films tend to start with “what would be scary?” and figure out the whole “how could it happen?” thing later. Usually with the assumption that the audience isn’t going to think all that critically about how realistic that last part is. >

Wow, fascinating. Tell me more. >

Instead of alligators eliciting the harsh "YIKES!" effect, they'll now give way to a much gentler "ICH!" effect. >

Excellent, as long as they get the death-roll combat ability from the alligator dna, I'm all good with Gatorfish. >

You were so focused on whether or not you could, that you didn't stop to think if you should. >

Actually that's completely backward.
It was clear that something should be done and then they asked "what can we do?" >

"Lookie ere' in-she a beaut. Awright, now Im gonna jump on er back..." >

Really puts the gato in alligator >

Removed reproduction methods and inserted reptilian DNA…. Sounds like the plot to a great movie!
 /s >

Jeez, it's like these scientists have never watched the Syfy channel. This can only end in missing coeds and bad special effects. >


sterile

Life, uh, finds a way. >

This is why we can’t have nice things. >

This project needs an upsi-daisy. >

I for one welcome our new alligator-catfish overlords. >

No more noodling for them. Could loose an arm doing it when those get in the wild. >

As someone from Alabama, I can attest that the people down in Auburn are absolutely idiotic. Look at them! No national titles to speak of in the past 10 years, and only two in their entire football spanning history!
Did they even watch Jurassic Park? We tried that with dinosaurs and frogs and look what that got us! 
Did you hear about the fire down at the Auburn library? Three whole coloring books burned without being filled in! >

It’s meant to become a natural predator to pest species, like the invasive “Florida man”.
Ok it’s actually just about making them more resistant to infections but still, I prefer my reasoning. >

...So this is what we're doing with our scientist's time, huh? >

Protecting our food supply?
Yeah that tends to be a lot of what we do with our scientists' time. >

You're right, I should have read the article. It's ironic, because I'm currently defending myself in two other threads about people not reading articles and applying critical though(*t)! It's a habit I'm trying to break, and I'll admit those other threads have me somewhat exhausted.
I wish the article had gone more into the statement " The experiment has already raised doubts among the larger scientific community as well. Some have argued that even if these hybrids are more resilient, most fish farmers don’t have a use for lab-spawned, sterile fish. And even though the hybrid species is still just a catfish, there’s also the marketing problem of selling hybridized alligator-catfish to consumers." (Emphasis added). It seems to suggest this new food supply might take some time to become palatable to the public, though, I myself would be fine eating it. Otherwise, a good write-up.
Have a good one!
edit 2: Now that I come to think of it, it's also kind of a sensationalist headline meant to draw the kind of knee-jerk reaction I displayed in my first comment. The headline "Alabama lab makes catfish and alligator hybrid to increase resiliency" would have been more informative with few extra letters. May not have gotten as many clicks though. Them's the breaks. >

damn is Impossible Creatures getting a sequel? >

Fallout 4 nuka world is calling. >

Still waiting for the real like gene mod for “Matcho Man Randy Savage Gator-catfish” >

So long as they don't give them the alligator teeth I guess, otherwise noodler's are in for a Surprise. >

I’ve played Metro Exodus. I know where this is going. >

Didn’t The Asylum already do this one? >

[Picture of that one guy with his hands on his hips.jpg] >

Throw a little Sea Eagle in there and now we're talking! >

What good is a disease-resistant population if they're fucking sterile? >

It's good for the company that's engineering them and likely the only source for them to be ordered from. I wouldn't trust a legitimate big science company to do something like this, but considering all the back ass ward ideas that come out of Alabama already, this is relatively terrifying. >

I’ll bet fried nuggets of them will be awesome.. >

Has nobody watched the Sci-fi channel? >

Isn't this already a Sci Fi channel movie? >

As if the South isn’t scary enough. >

The idea of republicans creating a fish monster to help them vote in order to combat “all them illegals votin for demonrats” is….fucking hilarious 
Somebody make this the next sharknado >

I graduated from Auburn in '99, but not from a fisheries related field. Back then, there were stories about genetically engineered catfish that were hybrids of other, more rapidly reproducing, fish. It seems that this is the next iteration of the same idea. Regardless, I'd probably eat it. >

Could they get cracking on resurrecting Steve Irwin next?
Those mutant abominations aren’t going to wrestle themselves. >

Thank God… I read it quick and started thinking of alligators with fur and adorable faces >

Honestly cats and gators are pretty similar 
Sunbathe, lazy most of the day, random outbursts of violence, play with their food etc >

Use of tails to communicate intention, >

What’s next? Turtle-ducks? >

"More resilient catfish"  ? 
This is really of value to society in a significant enough way that they even got this far with it ??