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.
Photo by Brian Gratwiche via Creative Commons
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.
Photo by Ton MJ via Creative Commons
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.
In 2002, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service added snakeheads to the list of “injurious fish.” This means that snakeheads are prohibited from being imported into the United States.
Many states now even prohibit the possession of live snakeheads. However, these bans have not completely stopped illegal snakehead-activities, which have been recorded in most of the states where bans are in place. It is also reported that snakeheads can still be obtained over the internet.
Photo by Yai&JR via Creative Commons
If snakeheads are found in the wild, the only means of eradicating the population would involve the complete eradication of the fishery with a piscicide, a chemical substance which is poisonous to fish. While this can be effective in small, isolated bodies of water, it does not generally work in large lakes or river systems.
This is what officials in Crofton, Maryland decided to do when northern snakeheads were discovered by anglers in 2002. This first Maryland snakehead was a long, skinny fish about 18 inches from end to end.
Photo by wharman via Creative Commons
Because the fisherman didn’t recognize the strange fish, he took a picture of it and put it back in the pond. Later, he gave the photo to the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR). Sure enough, the fish was identified as a snakehead.
It wasn’t until another angler caught a snakehead in the same pond and netted some babies that officials really became concerned. Their concern was based on the fact that a heavy rain could possibly wash some snakeheads from the pond and into a nearby river, which runs through a National Wildlife Refuge and on to the Chesapeake Bay, the largest estuary in North America. Because of this, authorities acted quickly.
To eliminate the snakehead menace, Maryland wildlife officials dumped the piscicide rotenone into Crofton Pond. This succeeded in killing all of its fish. Six adult snakeheads and greater than 1,000 juveniles went belly-up, along with all of the pond’s native fish.. They thought the snakehead problem was solved.
Two years later, northern snakeheads reared their heads again, and this time they showed up in the Potomac River. Experts worried that snakeheads in the Potomac, by eating other fish or out-competing them for food, could drive down numbers of more desirable species, such as largemouth bass and shad.
Poison just wasn’t an option this time. You can dump poison in a little, enclosed pond, but you can’t very easily contaminate the entire Potomac in order to kill the snakeheads. It’s a wide, shallow river that originates in West Virginia and runs 380 miles before emptying into the Chesapeake Bay.
The Bay fuels the region’s economy through recreation and fishing. Snakeheads couldn’t survive in the mildly salty water of the Bay, but they could scarf down shad, fish that spawn in the Potomac and other freshwater tributaries. The complete eradication of the snakehead population would be nearly impossible.
To date, northern snakeheads have been found in U.S. waters in several states. One example was a snakehead that was hooked in North Carolina’s Paw Creek. This fish weighed 12.5 pounds and measured about 31 inches.
Because it is illegal to return a live snakehead fish to an American body of water, the fish was turned over to the Wildlife Resources Commission. However, this was not the first, and probably not the last, time a northern snakehead fish was caught in North Carolina.
Snakeheads have been caught in this area in 2002 and 2007. And, Paw Creek is an environmentally-dangerous place to have these fish because it straddles two lakes giving the injurious fish a lot of room to expand and invade.
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Fisheries staff also responded to a report by a local angler of an invasive species in Catlin Creek near Ridgebury Lake in the town of Waywayanda.
The DEC recognized the danger of an infestation of northern snakehead fish. Left unchecked this predatory, invasive fish can rapidly expand its population and territory with real and negative economic impacts to the Hudson River watershed fisheries. Not to mention the fact that it can cause potentially irreversible harm to the rare and endangered species in the area.
Because of this threat, the DEC took immediate action in an attempt at containing the snakehead spread by erecting temporary fish barriers in Catlin Creek. DEC determined that swift action to eradicate this species is essential in protecting the native fish and amphibian populations and in preventing any further expansion of Northern Snakeheads beyond the headwaters of Catlin Creek.
It doesn’t appear that there is a quick fix to the Northern Snakehead problem. The key to managing snakeheads is to prevent them from becoming an established species in the first place. This may be difficult since they are already in U.S. waters and there numbers seem to be on the rise.
We have thousands of creatures on the endangered species list due to overfishing and hunting for money. $100 per dead snakehead – problem solved.
I am afraid $100 per head may not work. People will kill/poison/whatever all the fish around, then collect few dead snakeheads to get the reward. Uncontrolled extermination is not the best way to go ahead, especially in open waters like rivers. Even in closed ponds extermination shall be done by a professional who does know follow up impacts…
I caught a snakehead in Singleton Lake Lyndhurst, Ontario Canada Sunday 9/13/09 and proceeded to cut its throat.
This lake is bountiful with bass and northern pike and is connected to three maybe four other lakes in the region. I hope someone sees this that can help save this lake.
I have to go with Jon on the bounty. We had bounties on fox when I was a kid, and people didn’t burn down the forest to get them. Hefty anti-pollution laws already exist. If a person would suddenly show up with 100 snake heads and a local pond shows up polluted, I think the retribution leveled against the offender would deter.
These fish could potentially irradicate local fish populations. I know of no other remedy thought of to date – I would go with the bounty!
invasive species are so annoying!!!!!!!!!
were in canada can you find the northern snakheads
hey whats so horable about these creature its a part of life things kill things people kill people and vise versa I am really confused about this whole thing so leave some comments and if you want them gone do it yourself insted of paying somone
the very first fish image call with Lele. Ikan Lele, while
Iklan = Fish
Lele = Famous Name of fish have called.
What a wonderful post about snake head. Thanks a lot for useful post in here
all im doing for this snakehead fish thing is minding my business and thats what everyone else should do but other than that im doing a class project.
This is impossible to ever actually stop, educating people may slow down the process at which these things show up in some places but, once they are introduced its over. I read about Florida having problems with these fish taking over several years ago and it happened just like they said as they are now the dominant species now.
Whats funny is we as human beings did the exact same thing so, as usual we are are the ” Pot calling the Kettle black ” maybe we should eradicate some of the human population as the world would definitely be a better place for us and Fish.
On 10/5/22, I caught two snakeheads in Lake St Laurent, in Montreal Quebec. I would like to know if I should let some government organization know about presence of them here and where I can call if I can collect a reward.
In response to keska the problem with them is that they have no natural enemy so they just kill everything and they breed and spread like wildfire. Not many other fish can take on a snakehead and they don’t just kill for food. If another fish comes to close to them they will kill it. Very aggressive fish.
in Indonesia, the snake head is becoming rarely. It is because the people fishing it. http://newaquarium.blogspot.com/2009/02/snakehead-fishing.html
wow this article helped me with my report thanx:D
was very useful thanks to contributors
While I do not agree with a reward, if I find that monster that almost hit me, I will certainly proceed to put it on a stringer and feed it to my own belly. Snakeheads are good to eat. The one I am after is in a small oxbow of the Cedar River in Iowa. It may be a Giant or Northern, I don’t care which, but I will put the monster at a size big enough not to fear humans. I will go after it because it wasn’t afraid of me, and certainly will show no fear to the little kids that occasionally swim in this pond.
Besides, I am hungry for fish these days.
There is no easy answer to this problem.
I think a bounty is a possible idea, however it is important to educate fishermen to this so that similar native species such as the Bowfin are not caught then removed only to find that a reward/bounty is not available for this similar native fish
As one person (Red) noted that simply fishing for it as maybe a food source will control this invasive species; maybe publishing recipes or providing a contest for the best recipe?
i heard on the news ASIAN FISH INVADES CANADA THE ASIAN FISH IS…… NORTHERN SNAKE HEADS
Solution: Have well known chef develop snakehead recipe and serve them in restaurants. Demand for them will lead to extinction, or at least keep polulation under control.
I’ve kept snakeheads most my adult life and they are nowhere near as vicious as people make them out to be. Yes, they eat whatever fits in their mouth, but I’ve put my hands in my snakehead tanks hundreds of times and never been bit. So whats with the stories of snakeheads jumping out of the water to attack people?
Also the fact that they are illegal in Canada is a joke! They will all die off in the winter if they get into our water ways. I’ve almost lost a snakehead because the water in the tank went into the low 70s.
I’ll need hard proof of snakeheads breading and surviving our winter before I beleave that they’re invasive to Canada.
This is just another case of Canada’s no mind – Well they did it in the U.S., we better do it too!
Wake up Canada and have a mind of your own! Long live the snakehead!
Hey Kevin Zabbo was this little ox bow lake on the the Cedar near Cedar Falls Iowa? If it was I think I was duck hunting it tonight and it tried eating my duck I shot and did pretty good number on it also scared the crap out of me when it swam into my legs when I went to get my duck, whatever it was it was big.
I’m from Cedar Rapids, Iowa and went on a fishing trip this weekend to the Mississppi River between Wisconsin and Iowa when I caught a snakehead. I had no idea what it was til yesterday when i researched what I had caught. I did release it, but now kick myself in the ass for so.
hi,
Just when I thought everything had been defined, now
this…
I come from a family of hunters, everything has a natural preditor. How ever, sometimes this could make matters worse.
Poision is not the answer. A natural substance must be used, one that will not harm fish or wildlife or us.
This must be done soon, there is a point of no return.
What ever is used must destroy, all fish and eggs, I suggest, a substance that will interupt the reproduction cycle, and kill fish naturaly, or destroy
ability to absorb oxygen.
Good luck, Hurry. your friend Bill
Get a Pharmacual Company, or several,to work on this.
This also could lead to a drug, to prevent conception,
and help heart patients… Get to work!!!
My gift to you.
Bill 8187802217
I can think of no better solution than a bounty. Are there problems with a bounty yes – but they can be easily solved. If the snakeheads taste good then creating a market for them would also be a good idea. Eat this Fish and save the environment. This is one of those problems that can best be solved by millions of people each doing a little bit (catching and eating the snakeheads) rather than by government officials trying to solve the problem by themselves.
Snakeheads are stronger predators and are well adaptive to varying temperatures and so are expected to survive even the climactic conditions at hand. It both a good news and a bad news. The bad news is we will be losing many of the other species the good news is we are assured that this species can survive in the warmer world. However studies must be made as to its ecological support system, to make them sustainable. When their population booms too much the food source below them will be depleted and will in turn wipe them out. Maybe of a good study of their nature will be conducted we may find a way to make them coexist with many other species.
i had a pet snakehead that I bought at a pet shop in South Carolina when it was about 6in long. i had it for a few years then it became illegal. my dad ended taking a job here in Louisiana and i was afraid that i could get into trouble with the moving company, so i decided to release him in the Ashley River ( fresh/ slightly brakish) located on north charleston SC. so if anyone catches a snake head around 18″ + with a missing eye from my pet oscar which he later out grew and at his head please let me know. thankyou.
hey im doing a project on the Northern Snakehead and i was woundering if i can ask u guys a ? what affect does the Snakehead have on the ecconomy
Hi I was walking down canatara beach in sarnia ontario and I found washed up on the beach one of these fish. The snakehead was about 3 feet long if not longer and head a full mouth of very scary looking teath, I swim my horses in the water as well as my dogs and mtself of course and seeing that on the beach really makes me not want to swim in the open water anymore. something must be done as they are eating all of our species and will eventually wipe them all out.
Thankyou
i really do now understand why these fish are nicknamed “the fish from hell”. i’m gonna have freakin nightmares about these fish mualing me to death!!!
i do hope to catch a fish just as decent as the bullseye snakehead someday so i can realeve my fear of “the fish from hell”
I think i caught a snakehead in Dunlop lake, ontario. I of course, killed it, it was fairly large (around 2 lbs). Dunlop is in northern ontario, I have pictures, but there is no way to summit it to the reporting website.
Snake Head Fish
By Ronnie Garrison, About.com Guide
Recent press accounts of the Asian snakehead fish ‘invading’ New York City continue to perpetuate the distorted doomsday image earlier media accounts fostered when this story first broke following the discovery of a few Northern Snakehead in a small Maryland pond in 2002.
Such stories often contain far more Hollywood-like hype than science according to a group of learned scientists in Florida who collectively have more than 100 years of professional experience working with exotic freshwater fishes. Unfortunately, accuracy has frequently been abandoned in pursuit of sensational headlines and quotations. Even the highly respected New York Times referred to snakeheads in an August 9, 2005 story as “devilish” and “nightmarish creatures from Asia,” playing off of earlier accounts, such as the Washington Post’s July 3, 2002 story that describes snakeheads as “something like killer bees that swim” and “diminutive whiskered land sharks, gobbling up every fish snack in sight.”
In reality, the name ‘snakehead’ refers to a group of 29 freshwater fishes that are native to China, Thailand, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, India, and parts of tropical Africa. Although snakeheads have recently been illegally introduced into several States, only two species are reproducing in the continental United States. These are the Northern Snakehead, which is reproducing in the Potomac River and a South Philadelphia pond, and the Bullseye Snakehead, which is reproducing in a southeast Florida urban canal system.
“Unfortunately, the public is reading, hearing, and seeing reports describing these fishes as ‘Frankenfish’ or the ‘fish from hell,’ said Paul Shafland, a fisheries scientist who has spent more than 30 years studying exotic fish at the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s (FWC) Non-Native Fish Laboratory in Boca Raton. But Shafland urges the public to be skeptical about some of the things they have heard and read about these fishes, and most notably the Northern Snakehead.
According to some accounts “This alleged monster eats anything in its path, can walk on land, survive up to three days out of water, and will even attack and kill people when guarding its young!”
“That’s great story lines for Hollywood movies, but it is not accurate news” Shafland said.
Dr. Walter R. Courtenay (Professor Emeritus and leading federal expert on snakeheads) agrees, and tells everyone who will listen that “I assure you that the Northern and Bullseye snakeheads are incapable of overland movements.” Moreover, Courtenay adds that any such ‘land’ movements by any snakehead “must occur during the monsoon season so snakeheads can keep their bodies and breathing organ moist or else these fish will die in a matter of hours, not days!”
Dr. Jeffrey Hill (Lead Fish Researcher at the University of Florida’s Tropical Aquaculture Laboratory) agrees, adding that “Snakeheads cannot survive drying out nor can they make extended overland migrations across dry ground, although that seems to be the message popularized in media accounts.” Remember, he said “Snakeheads are fish, fish need water, and even though snakeheads can use atmospheric oxygen unlike most other fishes, they must remain moist to do so.”
“The appearance of any illegally introduced exotic fish is cause for concern, but not the recent hysteria we’ve been reading about with the snakehead. This is not a short-term crisis, but a long-term problem with less than catastrophic but no less real and unpredictable consequences” said Jon R. Fury, FWC Senior Fisheries Scientist for the South Florida Region.
The legend of snakehead voraciousness is built upon very few, if any hard facts, many of which have in turn been taken out of context and grossly exaggerated. Trying to debunk some of these snakehead myths Courtenay, Fury, Hill, and Shafland all agree that:
• Yes, snakeheads can ‘breathe’ air and live out-of-water longer than most fish can, but suggestions that these fish can live without water for up to three days is a gross exaggeration.
• Yes, snakeheads can move through shallow water, swampy conditions, and even semi-fluid mud that would immobilize many native fishes. But on dry land they only flop, wriggle, and squirm their way along for short distances, after which they will die in a matter of hours, not days.
• While there have been some local reports of snakeheads being found alive on land in their native ranges, none of the 29 Snakehead species possess the ‘land-walking’ attributes and abilities of the Walking Catfish, which has been in Florida since 1967. And even the Walking Catfish cannot live unless kept in a moist environment.
• Neither the infamous Northern Snakehead nor its cousin the Bullseye Snakehead are capable of making overland migrations or land movements of any kind.
• Yes, snakeheads are predators with small sharp teeth that are very similar to the native Bowfin but, NO, it is not some finned tiger waiting to pounce upon every living thing, nor is it able to single-handedly wipe out native fish communities.
• Another truth is that the illegal introduction and presence of reproducing snakeheads in Florida, the Potomac River, and a South Philadelphia pond is a serious concern, one that should be dealt with in a commensurately serious manner.
“Let me assure you that the discovery of the Bullseye Snakehead in Florida waters is not something to dismiss lightly,” Fury said. “In some cases, the presence of an exotic species can alter the ecosystem to the detriment of native species.”
“In such cases as this, we follow our well-established protocol for dealing with these matters rather than running about shouting: ‘The sky is falling! The sky is falling!’” Shafland said. “And this is not the first time that an exotic fish has stimulated such an end-of-the-ecosystem-as-we-know-it type of hysteria; in fact, it is very reminiscent of the same distorted coverage the Walking Catfish received back in the late 1960s and 70s.”
“Now we know that all the gloom and doom predictions about the Walking Catfish in 60s and 70s were unfounded,” Courtenay said. “Do we still have Walking Catfish in Florida? Yes. Are they a problem? Yes, but their documented negative impact on native freshwater species has been negligible compared to the catastrophe they were projected to be in media accounts.”
“These stories never seem to die; they just seem to lie dormant until a new species is reported that has an especially unusual appearance, behavior, and/or even just a strange name” Hill said. A few years ago similar stories surfaced about the Asian Swamp Eel that generated similar concerns by the public.
The real story here is that numerous unwanted exotic animals continue to be released into North America and elsewhere by well-meaning but misinformed individuals. Not only is this illegal, it is ecologically irresponsible, and often harmful to the animal itself.
“How would you like to be dumped in the Antarctic or in the middle of a rain forest far from anything you were familiar with, to fend for yourself” Shafland rhetorically asks. Most of these illegally released animals die premature deaths because they are unable to adjust to their new surroundings. But those that do survive and reproduce can create serious problems for species and wildlife managers.
Shafland points out that 32 exotic fish species have been found reproducing in Florida’s freshwaters, and 22 of these are considered permanent residents. In few cases, FWC has been able to quickly eliminate new exotic species, but because most are found in open and interconnected waterways, eradication is not generally feasible.
“Preventing exotic species from gaining a foothold is the only sensible approach, it’s our first and most important line of defense,” Shafland said. “During the past 40 years, the FWC has developed comprehensive and multifaceted programs to deal with this problem which includes specialized law enforcement personnel who enforce the various prohibitions and controls governing exotic fish and wildlife in the State.”
Once the wall of prevention is breached by a new exotic, the options are limited, he admits. The Bullseye Snakehead, for instance, cannot be eradicated or trapped out of existence. “It’s here to stay, unless they somehow disappear on their own, something no one is expecting them to do” Shafland said.
“In the meantime, we are trying to learn as much as we can about the Bullseye Snakehead by studying its life history, environmental limiting factors, and associations with other fish species,” he said. These studies started immediately after the discovery of this fish in October of 2000, “but this process is a long way from being completed,” he added.
Shafland explains the FWC continuously looks for management approaches that minimize the risks snakeheads and other exotic fishes might have, while at the same time developing methods to utilize these unwelcome resources. He points out that Oscar and Mayan cichlid, exotic fishes native to Central and South America, are now targeted by some anglers fishing in the Everglades, and wild tilapia are commercially harvested for food from many central Florida lakes. Although none of these exotic species are considered desirable by Shafland, he adds that “the idea here is to get the public involved in helping us to reduce their numbers by using them for recreational and/or food purposes.”
Bullseye Snakehead were first documented in Florida on October 5, 2000 when an angler brought his catch to Shafland for identification. The Bullseye Snakehead is very similar in appearance and behavior to our native Bowfin, but just different enough to make this alert angler suspicious. There are actually 29 different species of African and Asian snakeheads currently recognized by scientists, all of which are air-breathing fish, but only two—the Northern and Bullseye—are known to be reproducing in North America.
Florida scientists have collected and observed thousands of Bullseye Snakehead during the last few years, with the largest of these weighing just over nine pounds and measuring up to 33.5 inches long, according to Shafland. Interestingly, the heaviest Bullseye ever collected in Florida was collected more than two years ago.
One reference indicates Bullseye Snakehead grow to four feet in length and weigh more than 60 pounds, but again Shafland responds by saying “show me the data,” then adding that if they truly grew this large, surely we would have seen fish larger than nine pounds by now. Adult Bullseye Snakehead typically have red eyes and the body is a gold-tinted brown in contrast to younger fish that are pale gray. Older fish sometimes have a two-toned pattern with a lighter more orange-colored lower body and several large black blotches in front of small groupings of silver-edged scales called rosettes. In Florida Bullseye Snakehead occur only in eastern Broward County, but they are expected to spread and could eventually occupy much of south Florida.
“Bullseye Snakehead are easily recognized by their torpedo-shaped body, toothy jaws, and long dorsal and anal fins that don’t have any spines,” Fury said. The most distinctive marking on the Bullseye is its prominent eyespot or ocellus, which is a black spot rimmed with orange near the base of the tailfin. The long anal fin that runs from the anus to the tail of the Bullseye Snakehead readily distinguishes it from the native Bowfin.
All four of these experienced scientists emphasized that Florida and the rest of the United States has a serious and continuing problem with illegally introduced freshwater exotic fishes. But, after more than a hundred years of collective professional experience, Courtenay, Fury, Hill, and Shafland all agree that while there is a big need to educate the public about these fishes, there is no need to sensationalize or exaggerate their effect, especially in the manner that has become so commonly associated with Asian snakeheads.
Bullseye Snakehead are easily recognized by their torpedo-shaped body, toothy jaws, and long dorsal and anal fins that don’t have any spines,” Fury said. The most distinctive marking on the Bullseye is its prominent eyespot or ocellus, which is a black spot rimmed with orange near the base of the tailfin. The long anal fin that runs from the anus to the tail of the Bullseye Snakehead readily distinguishes it from the native Bowfin.
All four of these experienced scientists emphasized that Florida and the rest of the United States has a serious and continuing problem with illegally introduced freshwater exotic fishes. But, after more than a hundred years of collective professional experience, Courtenay, Fury, Hill, and Shafland all agree that while there is a big need to educate the public about these fishes, there is no need to sensationalize or exaggerate their effect, especially in the manner that has become so commonly associated with Asian snakeheads.
.
It’s crazy how there are so many other invasion species out there but the snakeheads are what the media is focusing on. If Snakeheads managed to make it into the major waterways it could wipe out much of the current 30 billion dollar fishing industry. This can not only affect the US but Canada as well.
Come visit my site on Snakeheads at http://sweb1.dmit.nait.ca/~enoel1/dmit208/ !
I was joking before. These fish invasion actually happen all over the world.
And we certainly should not hate the spaces itself but human irresponsable activity.
Ofcause we can try best to do the damage control and better system to prevent such desaster.
But when it’s already happend and noway to turn it back, maybe it’s time for accept the new species as a new family of our wildlife.