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| WASHINGTON - The torpedo-shaped Asian snakehead fish is causing panic
among US naturalists. The marauding invader, dubbed 'Frankenfish', has a voracious appetite and seemingly supernatural powers.
It has aroused fears from the moment its presence in the United States first became the subject of news headlines and local television broadcasts. The creature causing the uproar is not the invention of a Hollywood B-movie scriptwriter but the spawn of southern Chinese waterways. Practically overnight, the northern snakehead fish has come to be seen as one of the most dangerous interlopers to threaten any US ecosystem. The snakehead has won its fearsome reputation for its unsettling ability to survive on land for days at a time, its capacity for rapid growth and its insatiable appetite. More unsettling still, the fish can 'walk' on extended fins, raising fears that it could amble out of the public pond in Maryland where it was first spotted and into local waterways, where it would be virtually impossible to contain. To make matters worse, the snakehead has no known natural predators in US waters. For the past few weeks, local fishing and environmental authorities have been frantically trying to retrieve snakehead specimens released two years ago or so into the pond in Crofton, Maryland, east of Washington DC. The fish, however, appears to have spawned and hundreds are now believed to be in the 4-ha body of water. 'We could easily be talking about hundreds, if not more, juveniles in the pond,' head of fisheries for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources Eric Schwaab told the Washington Post newspaper. Mr Tom Muir, a biologist with the US Geological Survey, said the snakehead was 'a very aggressive predator' which could decimate native fish populations. 'Ecologically, it's a significant threat,' he said. According to the Encyclopaedia of Tropical Fishes, snakehead young 'grow with amazing rapidity and the only problem encountered is that of keeping their terrific appetite satisfied'. As if to prove their reputation, young snakeheads have been spotted leaping onto lily pads to grab insects before jumping back into the water. If the babies elicit awe, adults spark full-blown terror. Tadpoles and frogs are favourite snakehead fare but the fish dines quite happily on minnows, sunfish or just about anything else that swims by. Mature snakefish can grow up to a metre in length. A specimen taken from the Maryland lake by a local fisherman in May was described as 'a 19-inch bruiser'. Since then, another mature fish has been captured as have several baby snakeheads. Possessing a snakehead fish is illegal in 13 US states but not in the city of Washington, nor in neighbouring Virginia or Maryland, where the original snakehead fish sparked the current crisis. The fish, prized for its powerful medicinal benefits, is often served up as a delicacy in Asian dishes from watercress soup to duck giblets - which probably explains how the fish wound up in the Maryland pond in the first place. According to news reports, a local resident who originally hailed from Hongkong, ordered live specimens of the fish to be sent to his home to make soup for his ill sister. By the time the fish arrived the woman had recovered, so the man discarded the fish in the pond near his home, where it apparently not only survived but thrived, to the continuing dismay of US fishery authorities. -- AFP THE SNAKEHEAD: Popular sport and food fish in parts of Asia THE snakehead fish is the largest representative of the widespread snakehead genus Channa (formerly Ophicephalus). It is a popular sport and food fish avidly pursued in several Asian countries by local fishermen. It has been recorded at over 35 kg, although fish over 9 kg are rare. It grows from fingerlings to about 2 kg in a year. The young fish have attractive reddish-brown backs and prominent longitudinal stripes, which gradually fade as they grow older. The adult fish are counter-shaded with silver bellies and dark backs which often have a greenish, purplish or brownish cast. Colour variations in adult snakeheads depend on the colour of the water they inhabit. In alkaline water, they become very pale but in acidic water, they can become very brightly coloured with vibrant purples and bottle-green flashes along their backs. They often live for 10 to 15 years. Small prey such as frogs are taken in one gulp, but with their sharp teeth and powerful jaws, the big snakeheads are capable of immobilising large prey such as small carp. Prey is often bitten in half on the strike. They rarely chase down their prey, and prefer to attack from ambush with great speed and accuracy. Source: www.fishermenstales.co.uk
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