YAFFI: Snakehead found in Great Lake!

[ufcrusher]

'Frankenfish' found in Chicago
Illinois authorities worry about Great Lakes infestation

CHICAGO, Illinois (Reuters) -- The dreaded Northern Snakehead, a voracious predator dubbed the "Frankenfish" that can breathe out of water and wriggle across land, has invaded the Great Lakes, authorities said on Friday.

Scientists with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources identified the 18-inch (46-cm), sharp-toothed fish netted over the weekend in a harbor near Chicago's downtown by a fisherman, who put it in his freezer and posted a photograph of the creature on the Internet.

A native of China, the Northern Snakehead was first discovered in 2002 breeding in East Coast ponds -- one of which was poisoned and another drained -- and has since been spotted in the Potomac River in Virginia, in Florida and in other places -- but not, until now, in the Great Lakes.

"These things are voracious feeders. They're a very aggressive fish," said Mike Conlin of the Department of Natural Resources. "We hope it's a stray, dumped there by somebody who got tired of feeding it."

Teams will use electric cables in the harbor to shock fish to the surface to look for more of the species, which can survive the cold Midwest winter and eats other fish, frogs and even birds and mammals. If it breeds, it could devour game fish and devastate the lakes' multibillion-dollar fishing industry.

The Great Lakes, the world's largest body of fresh water, has long been plagued by invasive species, with the latest being the Zebra Mussel, the Round Goby and the Sea Lamprey.

Earlier this week, authorities announced plans to erect an electrified, underwater barrier in the waterway connecting Lake Michigan to the Mississippi River watershed to try to stave off the northerly advance of the Asian Carp, a huge fish that gobbles up vital phytoplankton. The carp, which escaped flooded fish farms along the Mississippi, is within 50 miles (80 km) of Lake Michigan.

Alarmed Asian Carp have been known to leap from the water and knock out people in boats.

The electrified barrier will be adjacent to one erected a few years ago, designed to keep the Round Goby from migrating from Lake Michigan into the Mississippi River watershed, but the effort came too late.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/science...eut/index.html




All this because some people like to eat them and import them to fish markets live. This generally isnt a species that Aquariust keep. The red line/blue lined snake head on the other hand is kept by lots of people, including myself in the past.

[Kevster]

This is similiar to the #$$#@ %#%$!## $@$#@ $#!@$# @$#@ @$#$!#@ waste of human skin that put Northern Pike in Lake Davis in Northern California. It has virtually destroyed a wonderful reservoir, seriously affected the local communities and is a grave threat to California's native trout & salmon populations.

It is acts of insane stupidity like this that piss me off to no end - especially when it means literally wiping out whole fisheries and spending millions of dollars better spent on something else just to stop this serious threat to our native fish.

[DarkFury]

Sounds like we need some tougher native fish...

Ours are gettin' punk'd out by these intruders.

[bachviet]

Sounds like we need some tougher native fish...

Ours are gettin' punk'd out by these intruders.

Especially those Asian ones!

[Emqtee]

Hopefully this hasn't hit widescale across all of the Great Lakes yet. Zebra Mussels and Sea Lampray are a big enough problem as it is

[welfareloser]

if it hasn't hit big yet, it will never underestimate human apathy. somebody cares little enough to let it happen.

and if nothing else, some dumbass 17 yearold meth addict will see this news story, steal one of the stupid fish out of his stupid tattooed stepfather's aquarium, and dump it in the lake because, hey, that's funny.

[Leebo]

looks like China has already started invading the US

[BrewMaster]

for people whose job it is to protect animals and the environment, they sure do get off on electrocuting animals. they're putting up those electric setups next to other electric setups. they can't seem to get enough of it...

[ufcrusher]

When they shock the lakes it stuns the fish and causes them to rise, but it doesnt kill them. The most dangerous thing is that a bird would come and eat the stunned fish.