Snake Fish Invasion

[Racoon]

So I guess this is real big deal..??

Let in enough ships, immigrants, open borders, and you get a little Invasive Species that will destroy everything you thought that was still left that was Good.

 

Some immigrants from Russia brought over the Snake Fish, and now thanks to Gobalization, theres a real Epidemic on our hands..

 

Open Borders is Good for teh Economy.. Bullshit. Too bad Politicians don't take into account items like Snake Fish.

[Racoon]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snakehead_(fish)

[Moontanman]

What are you talking about raccoon? Sounds like you got hold of an urban legend, a thriller movie, and a real incident and went with it. Is this what you are referring to?

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crofton,_Maryland#Crofton_pond_snakehead_fish_incident

 

Crofton was in the national news in late June and early July 2002 after a northern snakehead was discovered in a pond behind the Crofton post office (not the local landmark Lake Louise, but instead across Route 3 from it).

 

The snakehead species, which is highly aggressive, voracious, and can walk short distances on land, came from a live Asian food market, where the fish is a delicacy. In order to ensure that the fish were eliminated, the pond was dosed heavily with rotenone, and subsequently with potassium permanganate (September 17, 2002). Six adult snakeheads and more than one thousand juvenile fish were found and destroyed.

 

Ultimately, the incident initiated a national discussion on invasive species and comparisons with the mute swan, also an invasive and destructive species of the Chesapeake Bay watershed but, in comparison, quite beautiful, and which garnered support from some environmental and animal rights groups.

 

There have been several movies inspired by this incident. The SciFi Network has aired two movies in relation to the snakehead outbreak. In March 2004, a movie called Snakehead Terror was featured, and in June 2004, the movie Frankenfish was aired. There has also been a movie produced by Ten Pound Films titled Swarm of the Snakehead which related to this incident.

 

In 2007, a documentary on the National Geographic channel titled Fishzilla: Snakehead Invasion aired that discussed the ecological damage that the snakeheads found in Crofton have done to surrounding areas.

 

While snake-heads are ecologically damaging to the environment if they are released or at least have that potential so far this fish hasn't exactly started destroying the ecology of the area it was released in and that was many years ago. They are not harmful to humans in anyway unless you catch one and let it bite you as you take out the hook (bowfin are just as if not more likely to bite and they are native and pretty much the same fish ecologically, This incident is blown way out of proportion to it's real impact and the fish in question came from China or Southeast Asia not Russia. The bold portion of the quote is somewhat of a exaggeration, you won't find these fish out for a stroll in your neighborhood, many fish can maneuver out of water and even manage to travel some distance, walking catfish come to mind but they are the exception and the snakehead is no walking catfish.... I often wonder if they will be able to compete with the native bowfin, an ancient linage of fishes, bowfins are known for being nasty fighters and have huge teeth, their mouths look like the teeth of a dog and so they are called dogfish in some areas, their canine teeth are impressive for sure....

[Racoon]

Sources I heard are Snake Fish are becoming a real threat to natural fish habitats NOW...

They are extremely aggressive, and have no natural predator here.

They are being found on golf courses already.. They can jump pond and squirm into a new river/creek/body of water like a bad Sci-Fi movie

 

The source comes from official US Coast Guard. My US Coast Guard source is the most reliable info I have on the ground. He said it was "Bad"

 

Add that to the Asian Carp in the Mississippi. - Snake Fish are going to be a real menace Moontanman, I don't care if you like me or not. Incidently it is striking the East Coast first.. so don't be too alarmed when all you fish out of the waters are Snake Fish.

[Moontanman]

Sources I heard are Snake Fish are becoming a real threat to natural fish habitats NOW...

They are extremely aggressive, and have no natural predator here.

They are being found on golf courses already.. They can jump pond and squirm into a new river/creek/body of water like a bad Sci-Fi movie

 

The source comes from official US Coast Guard. My US Coast Guard source is the most reliable info I have on the ground. He said it was "Bad"

 

Add that to the Asian Carp in the Mississippi. - Snake Fish are going to be a real menace Moontanman, I don't care if you like me or not. Incidently it is striking the East Coast first.. so don't be too alarmed when all you fish out of the waters are Snake Fish.

 

 

How would a freshwater fish take over the east coast of the US? Maybe one river system but even that is unlikely, someone released flathead catfish here about 50 years ago, they have had a really bad effect on the Cape Fear River system, sunfish and smaller catfish have taken a beating, but they are freshwater and they are confined to the one river system because to swim up the coast or down for that matter would mean they could live in salt water. Your coast guard source was either funning you or one of you misunderstood and were referring to the Lion Fish which really is taking over the east coast and is wiping out native marine fish populations because other fish cannot prey on it due to it's poison spines. BTW just what is the snake head a menace to? They were brought here because they were good to eat, they will be a problem to the native fish until they adapt but calling the snake head a menace seems a bit extreme. Lion Fish however can kill you....

[CraigD]

So I guess this is real big deal..??

The “snakehead invasion” is pretty old news (about 10 years old) where I live in the Washington DC metro area (which includes the famous pond in Crofton mentioned upthread). Though I don’t fish myself, the people I know who do suggest the invasion and conquest of our local ponds and streams hasn’t been as rapid, widespread, or total as predicted: most places yield the same catch the usual trout, perch, rockfish – no snakeheads – as they did 10 years ago.

 

Some immigrants from Russia brought over the Snake Fish, and now thanks to Gobalization, theres a real Epidemic on our hands..

Let in enough ships, immigrants, open borders, and you get a little Invasive Species that will destroy everything you thought that was still left that was Good.

Though it’s difficult to know with certainty how northern snakeheads were introduced in the DC area, most of the authorities I’ve read don’t think it was via large-scale shipping, or being carried across borders by visitors or immigrants.

 

A Washington post article I read in the early 2000s reported that a multi-generation Chinese-American woman bought one from an exotic aquarium fish dealer with the intention of using it to making a special magically healthy soup for her grandfather, but for one reason or another, abandoned that plan. The fish was too big for her aquarium, and allegedly this woman told the WP reporter she was too kind-hearted to kill it or let it die, so released it in a fish-friendly-looking pond. The article struck me at the time as likely an attempt to create or confirm an urban legend, more local folklore than science, but as laws banning the import and sale of live snakeheads are fairly new, and as with most such laws, difficult to enforce, and snakeheads are tasty eating, it’s not an unreasonable story.

 

In short, I don’t think snakeheads are likely to destroy my area’s aquaculture, especially as they don’t appear interested in shellfish, nor like brackish water, where most of Maryland and tidewater Virginia’s important commercial fishing and crabbing is, in the Chesapeake. The biggest threat to that was and remains runoff water pollution, especially from large chicken farms.

 

Open Borders is Good for teh Economy.. Bullshit. Too bad Politicians don't take into account items like Snake Fish.

Though This is politics, not ecological science, I think this it’s important enough to warrant a response.

 

Regardless of whether open borders are good or bad for the US economy, I personally find closed border scary, and profoundly antithetical to the general American sentiment that people should be at liberty to go where they wish without being restrained by self-styled or government-appointed “rulers”. A world in which people are prevented from leaving their farm, town, or country by force of law is, I think, a world of peasants and feudal lords. While this may be an old, traditional world order, I think it’s a bad one, the return of which we shouldn’t nostalgize over or promote.

 

The consequences of enacting the governmental principle of liberty, such as open borders, are often messy, but IMHO far preferable to the consequence of the lack of enacting this principle, such as closed borders.

[Moontanman]

I'm betting the alligators here will enjoy them as much as they do carp.....

[Racoon]

My coast guard guy wouldn't mention it if it wasn't Bad...He brought it up in conversation, Both his kids are now in the Coast Guard successfully.

 

Don't think its a problem?? Don't care if its a problem?? Its a problem and is going to be a problem.

They've been here for 10 years, OK Craig D? thats the time it takes for them to get a major foothold. It gets worse from there.

 

They seem like a bad sci-fi threat.. they can move from stream to stream with an ability to cross land. :blink:

 

 

 

http://www.sprol.com/2009/07/snakehead-fish-invasion/

 

Photo by Mohd Fahmi via Creative Commons

 

Snakehead fish are large, freshwater predators from the Channidae family that are native to Africa, Malaysia, Indonesia and various locations throughout Asia. These fish are plentiful in their native waters as there are some 28 varieties of snakehead fish.

 

The snakehead fish is very unique and different from the average fish. While they are similar, in body-type, to muscular eels, some snakehead varieties can grow to at least four feet in length. This fish got its name because of its stereotypically flat, snake-like head and toothed mouth.

 

What really make the snakehead so unique is its voracious appetite and its ability to breathe air. This fish is so adaptable, in fact, that it can travel short distances across land and live for short stents of time out of the water.

 

 

While there have been reports of snakeheads attacking and killing humans, they usually settle for fish, amphibians and small mammals. However, at least one species of snakehead, the Channa micropeltes, has been known to attack people when they approached the snakehead’s nest or their young.

 

 

Over the years, these superb predators have found their way into the lakes and rivers of the United States, and this is where the problem of introducing a very adaptable, fierce predator into a new environment begins. The northern snakehead, or Channa argus, have been brought into the United States for two main reasons. There were going to be used as freshwater aquarium fish and as a specialty food.

 

It is reported that the northern snakeheads found in American waters are either illegally stocked in an effort to establish a local food source or aquarium owners eventually released the fish after they no longer wanted to or could care for them properly. Once introduced into their new homes, these fish tend to flourish.

 

 

Photo by marcuspajp via Creative Commons

 

In fact, there are several species of Channidae that can tolerate a wide range of water temperatures. So, neither the warm waters of the south nor the cold waters of the north would prevent many snakeheads from becoming an established, yet undesirable, new resident.

 

Once established, these fish can expand their range by swimming to adjoining waterways or can even move short distances over land to nearby sources of water. The adaptability of these fish is not the only thing that makes them such a threat. The northern snakehead also breeds extremely easily.

 

Combine the northern snakehead’s adaptability, carnivorous appetitive, the ability to move over land and a lack of natural enemies, and you end up with a real and present threat to American waterways and the indigenous species of aquatic life that resides in these waters.

 

While this might not seem like a very significant environmental threat, the impact of releasing a pet snakehead or a food fish into local waters where that fish is not native is real.

 

 

With no natural enemies in U.S. waters, the snakehead’s prolific breeding habits and hardy constitutions create a real potential for snakehead fish to multiply and destroy entire populations of fish and amphibians in the waters in which they are released. Many of these fish and amphibians are already on the endangered species list, and the snakeheads can only make things worse.

 

Consider this: At all stages of life, the northern snakehead competes with native fish and other aquatic wildlife for food. Native fish and wildlife populations, which already rely upon smaller fish, crustaceans, frogs, snakes, lizards and young waterfowl, will have to compete with these top-predators, and this could put them in great danger.

 

If snakeheads become established in a specific body of water, they can disrupt the ecosystem’s predator-prey balance. This can be catastrophic for native species.

 

Additionally, when a new species is introduced to an already established body of water, there is always the potential of the species bringing new diseases and parasites along with it. And, it does not appear that only large populations of snakeheads create environmental problems for American waterways. Even just one snakehead poses a threat because of its voracious feeding behavior.

 

[Moontanman]

Raccoon, if you want the real info on this problem i suggest you go to this forum NANFA and ask the questions you have. There you will find real answers and not the sensationalist hype of NG or rumors from some one who works in the coast guard. I think you will find that while the snake head is not going to be welcome as a species by the natives it is highly unlikely to exterminate them either. The vicious behavior you see in certain you-tube videos is an artifact of captivity not natural feeding behavior. These fish are not welcome, no non native fish or other creature should ever be released into the wild, no native fish that has been held in captivity should ever be released back into the wild due to disease possibilities.

 

Snake heads are not dangerous to people in any way, they are disruptive to the ecology but they will be sorted out by evolution just like all the other exotic releases that have occurred in the USA for the last 400 years or more. Snake heads will not destroy the ecosystem any more than dogs and cats have destroyed the ecosystem (feral dogs and cats are not a natural part of the ecosystem). Snake heads are there, they will not spread beyond certain limits due to predators that will eat them, yes, native predators will eat baby snake heads just as quickly and easily as any other small fish. It will be sad to see yet another exotic species established in North American waters but it happens and some of our own fish have become invaders in other places and dreaded just as much as snake heads are here. Snake heads are not supernatural, they are just big ambush predators that have no place in most of the places they have been released, even if they do manage to replace native ambush predators as top of the food chain it does not mean the other predators will become extinct just they will have competition. On top of that snake heads are fun to catch on hook and line and delicious...

 

BTW I am a member in good standing at NANFA, great group of people, they know their stuff.