Snakehead fish now banned from Nebraska

December 4, 2003

Snakehead fish now banned from Nebraska

By REGIS NEUROHR

sian snakeheads (Also known as reedfish, rope fish, Frankenfish, The Fish From Hell, The Pond Shark, Godzilla With Gills) are now declared illegal, by the Nebraska Game and Parks


	Not since the glory days of the Killer Bees and the Soviet Union have we seen its like for sheer panic generation.

Commission, to posses in Nebraska. Some 16 states have taken similar action including Alabama, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky, Mississippi, Nevada, Oregon, Texas, Utah and Washington.

The Interior Department said three species of snakehead have been recorded in the United States, in the states of California, Florida, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Several northern snakeheads, which can survive winters in cold water as far north as canada, have been caught by anglers from the Potomac river in Maryland and Virginia, an indication that they are reproducing.

There are 28 species of snakehead fish (Calamichthys calabaricus, Calamoichthys calabaricus, Hepetoichthys calabaricus - Call me "Cal" for short...) and they are described as 'the baddest


	It is illegal to buy, sell, grow or smoke snakeheads in most states.

bunny in the bush,' by wildlife authorities. The snakehead is apparently a very real threat to upset the ecological balance of fish and fish-based products as we know it.

The fish, which is native to China and West Africa, has primarily been imported to the United States by seafood sellers and aquarium shops. Such sales would be banned under an impending Federal Interior Department's proposal.

Snakefish wriggle long distances over land and then introduce themselves into ponds and riverbeds. They then voraciously eat them bone-dry of fish, insect and plant-life.

When the food supply runs out, snakeheads slither out of the water onto dry land, creeping along with their fins for up to four days driven by hunger in search of the next aquatic smorgasbord. This predator will even asphyxiate if they are prevented from breathing air. All 28 species of snakehead can tolerate low oxygen conditions in water because they are air breathers from an early age. When prevented from water surface access, adult snakeheads will die due to lack of oxygen.

The snakehead, most which normally grow to 3 feet long (Some species exceed this length), exhibits an insatiable appetite for any kind of flesh and will even eat their fry. The fish has an ugly wide mouth and heavy scales, making it look like a snake's head. It can swallow prey as large as itself. Typically, adults snakeheads exist on fish, frogs, birds and small mammals when in proximity.

Maryland is moving aggressively to solve its snakehead problem, with officials announcing that poison will be used to kill the fish to stop the predator from spreading into other waterways. This


	The snakehead is "predatory" and has lots of big teeth.

past summer in a suburb of Washington, snakeheads were dumped into a Crofton pond by a local resident who bought them from a New York City market to make soup for a sick relative. When the relative got better, the unneeded fish were released into the pond and quickly reproduced.

State game officials sprayed enough poison at sunrise to kill every fish in the murky pond. By mid-morning, the water was pocked by circular ripples of fish breaking the surface and gasping for air. To show the predatory nature of the fish, one game official cut open a 4-inch juvenile snakehead that floated to the surface. Inside were two tiny other fish, each still whole. Nearly 100 snakeheads had gone belly-up.

About 20 game officials wearing rubber boots and rubber overalls waded into the pond with nets to scoop up the dead and struggling fish. A fence was built to prevent any last-minute escape by


	It sneaks out of slimy ponds in the dark of night and migrates across country, ultimately infesting every river, brook, lake and estuary on the continent. (The picture above is an anomaly, not representative of normal snakehead species growth.)

the snakeheads. The Little Patuxent River is about 250 feet from the snakehead pond, which is on private land near a shopping center.

State game officials said the poison should dissipate within two days and that they would restock the pond with fish next spring if the owners wanted them to.

An established (reproducing) population of ' bullseye' snakehead was found in Broward County, Florida. This is the largest of the snakehead species. It commonly grows to a length of about four feet. State biologists postulate that this species may have been introduced intentionally as a food fish, released by aquarium hobbyists or escaped from a fish farm.

A northern snakehead was caught from Newton Pond in Sudbury, Massachusetts. The likely source of this fish was the live fish market. Specimens of the 'Giant' snakehead have been collected from open waters in Maine, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. These snakeheads likely were released by aquarium owners whose "pets" grew too large or too expensive to feed. The 'Giant' type is the most predacious snakehead species and has been known to attack humans. Live northern snakeheads are readily available in the seafood markets of Boston and New York.

California Fish and Game personnel collected a snakehead in Silverwood Lake in the San Bernardino Mountains east of Los Angeles. The 'Chevron' species of snakehead was established on the Hawaiian island of Oahu in the late 1800's, where it is was cultured as a food fish.

According to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service law enforcement, records show that 16,554 live snakefish were imported into the U.S. between 1997 and 2000. The trend has been toward an increase in recent years. The states of Alabama, California, Florida, Kentucky, Texas and Washington have all recorded snakehead-related illegal activity, confiscations, citations or investigations within the past two years. Live northern snakeheads destined for food markets have been confiscated in markets in Washington, Texas and Florida. Snakeheads are also available for purchase over the Internet.

The snakehead has few friends, even among animal activist groups.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, a group which normally leads the fight for animal protection issues, said it has no sympathy for snakeheads and supports the state plan to kill them.

Still, the snakeheads have attracted a cult following. Their fate has been closely tracked by


	There are 28 species of snakehead fish...a very real threat to upset the ecological balance of fish and fish-based products as we know it.

newspapers and broadcasters around the world due to the high number of fishermen reeling in snakeheads at numerous locations in the United States, where the predator is not native, but is adapting rapidly.

The Nebraska Game and Parks Commissioners have decided to approve a bounty purchase program. The NGPC will purchase snakeheads currently owned in private aquariums at prices of $10 for those under 12 inches, $20 from 12 to 24 inches and $50 for those over 24 inches.

These and other preventative steps must be taken now before Frankenfish invades the Missouri River. The female snakehead is theoretically capable of hatching as many as 180 fry up to 40 times a year! The female northern snakehead is capable of spawning five times a year. Northern snakeheads can live under the ice of northern climates. The northern has become the most available species of live snakeheads in the fish markets of New York and Boston.

According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Commission, based on water temperature alone, all U.S. fresh or brackish waters would allow some member of the snakehead family to establish itself. Because snakeheads are so predatory, they pose a high risk to endangered species. Of all endangered species in US aquatic habitats, 16 amphibians, 115 fishes, and five of the 21 federally protected crustaceans would most likely be affected by snakehead introductions.

The economic impact of the Missouri river infested with flesh eating fish would be far-reaching. Popular sport fishing on the river would become a thing of the past and local boat sales would suffer so much that marine centers would be forced into sales of alternate items such as snow skiing and alternate sporting apparel.

Our local marinas would suffer the worst because Missouri river pleasure boating would become a high-risk undertaking. For those who would dare to want to keep their boat in a slip in the marinas, there would be no more "waiting lists" for a boat slip. Entrepreneurial fishermen would risk life and limb trolling the shoreline jetties in search of the wily Godzilla With Gills. Surely there will be a bounty placed on any catch that would contribute to decreasing the predator count in the river. Ultimately, the EPA will be forced to raise a white flag and surrender future of the Pallid Sturgeon to that of an aquarium oddity.


	The 'Dragon Fish', a distant snakehead relative, is pictured here being held by U.S. servicemen stationed in Thailand.

Boaters who beach up on the shore this summer to enjoy the cool water on a hot day will now have something else to think about.