Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Pond Boss Northern Snakehead

I thought that this would interest everybody here. Northern Snakehead

They were found in the White River drainage in Eastern Arkansas. From what I have heard the population could be as high as 100,000 individuals.

\

You know what burns me up about this? These fish come in through the import aquarium trade, which has little or no oversight while the government is hammering American fish farmers with unfair regulation.

These were actually brought in by a fish farmer trying to corner the market in the asian food community.

Thanks for posting that Young Man.

I stand corrected. Usually these exotics are brought in through the exotic aquarium trade. There is some conjecture that is where LMB virus came from.

I now see the future for Young Man....

Steelman/Slymer House of Fish Squeezing, Supply, and Snakehead Eradication.

"No job too small, no fee too large."

How 'bout: Chris Steelman - Snakehead Whisperer

Great. Now just cross this with the "Will fish appear in a non-stocked pond" school of thought and watch a nightmare unfold. To bad we can't use them to control the Asian Carp Populations. When will people learn the folly of introducing non-native species?

They've made quite a presence in the Potomac River. They first appeared in some lakes and ponds in Maryland several years ago. Then they were found in the Potomac.

On the positive side, a lot of fisherman are enjoying them. They apparently fight like crazy and they grow pretty big -- unfortuantely at the expense of the LMB.

They are big part of the reason that I don't think I'll ever get tilapia into my pond. Once they appeared, the states around here got real strict about any kinds of "exotics" -- which they define as any fish not born in the state.

OK, I concede that there are some benifical Non-Native species, Tiliapia being one. But I would think they at least were studied extensively before being allowed. Then again I am going off common sense here and not actual knowledge of the subject. And we all know of our Goverment is not known for its extensive use of common sense.

"And we all know of our Goverment is not known for its extensive use of common sense."

Shhhhh. Don't tell anyone.

I'm surprised a farmer was allowed to bring them in. Are you sure that is the story Chris?

Everything you always wanted to know and more about northern snakehead, they do eat carp. There are several types of snakehead, we have some in my neighborhood, but something else must keep them in check as they don't seem to pose a problem. A snakehead population was introduced into a resevoir in Singapore for fishing and failed to provide enough sport so the fishery introduced peacock bass whiched turned out to very popular with the fishermen but, not so with the snakehead, apparently the peacock like the taste.
http://nas.er.usgs.gov/taxgroup/fish/northernsnakeheaddistribution.asp
http://www.dnr.state.md.us/irc/ssap_report.html
http://fisc.er.usgs.gov/Snakehead_circ_1251/html/channa_argus.html

I find the whole snakehead thing fascinating.

I Find it curious when all the LMB fanatics on the tidal Potomac (and it is POPULAR with the BASScrowd!) scream about the snakeheads, UNTIL I point out that their beloved LMB are also non native predators. Heck,if we start tossing out fish that aren't native to the tidal Potomac, wouldn't be all that much left!

I personally doubt that they are going to cause a sea change in the river's pop dynamics. Sure, they eat tons of the fish bass do,(mostly killifish) but other fish will eat their young as well. And have seen some pretty heavy parasite loads in them as well, esp in wet years. Already seeing them up to 12 lbs!
And they are DELICIOUS! And they can also tolerate a whole lot more salinity than first assumed, so may expand a little farther than first thought.

I do not condone, in any way, the release of ANY non-native species: almost always cause much trouble than good, often with unintended,and unexpected consequences.Anyway they are here to stay now: Gennie is out of the bottle. Now we can watch and see what unfolds.Sort of like a living laboratory.

Good point JHM. It's a a shame though. Reminds me of the Great Lakes. 183 exotics and counting. Not a damn thing being done about the ballast water that brings in these exotics. Someone is actually suing the EPA to PLEASE do their job. PLEASE!

The most recent exotic VHS Type IV most likely came in that way and mutated to its present form. What's next?

Cecil,

They finally have started to take this quite seriously in about the last two years. Here are a couple of articles about something they just started doing in the last couple of weeks that is quite simple but apparently very effective:

New rules help stop invasive species

Seaway acts to flush Great Lakes invaders

They mayors around the great lakes are also starting to really push the states to push the federal government. There have been a number of pacts signed just recently. I wish I could find some of the other articles.

All of this certainly should have been done back in the 1960s, but at least maybe they can start to slow the invasion.

Ken

Then all we need to worry about is invasive species inside the boats' cargo - like the Emerald Ash Borer.

Leave it to Theo to find another thing for us to worry about

Lawsuits have a way of getting people's attention Ken.

Chris,
I'm in Hunter, just north of Brinkley. The USGS was electrofishing our private creek system that ties into drainage that leads to the white river basin. They fear that the fish has spread this far with the recent flooding. The story that I'm hearing is that when Dunn's fish farm was ordered to get rid of the fish, they just tossed them up on the bank. And since this fish can live for 3 days out of water and relocate itself, here we are.

I watched a special on the snakehead invasion last night on National Geographic. They think that this fish was bought from a street vendor in New York. The Snakeheads were bought by an asian man. They were going to be used in a medicinal soup to help his sick sister. By the time he got the snakeheads his sister was already better so he decided to release the snakeheads in a local pond which would bring even more good luck to his sister. They call this cerimonial animal release.

The man responsible has apparently confessed to releasing the fish. I'm sure that this is not the only way these fish made it to the US.

Electrofishing on the Potomac Showed a large concentration of Snakeheads in one area of the river. They called this area snakehead triangle. Unfortunately the snakeheads were not confined to this area and have spread to the D.C. area.

It looks like we are going to be dealing with these fish for years to come.

I have heard(not sure how reliable the source is) that the State of Arkansas is going to rotenone 20 miles of the White River in an attempt to eradicate the Northern Snakehead.

Chris, Did you hear where the 20 mi. stretch would be? Northern Ar. is dependant on the white river for trout fishing tourism (2 World record Brown's were caught at the confluance of the White and Norfork rivers) and the middle section of the white is very heavily fished from the Buffalo river to Batesville, Ar. Further downstream gets so polluted nobody cares to fish it.

No, but the fish were found near Brinkley which is in the southern part of the river.