Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Fish ID and concerned

my students found this and took a picture of it before flipping it back into the creek by our school. This is the best picture I have. The rains have flooded much of the field, but the water is receding. This was in the leaves by the creek. Is this a snakehead, or some other similar non evasive fish?

Sorry, didn't state that this is in Southern Michigan. We have sent the picture to the DNR.

It might be a northern snakehead, hard to tell from the picture.



http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/dpwes/stormwater/fish/miscellaneous.htm

As far as I know, they really have not been found in Michigan inland waters. I hope it is not but fear it is.

It is a central mudminnow. Very native and very non invasive. There are two other closely related species in North America, the eastern and Olympic mudminnows. They are actually closely related to the Esox family of fish(think pikes, pickerels, musky). They only reach about 5" but can be a bit predecious as they have a decent sized mouth. They are pretty good forage fish.

And all the the snakehead hype is just that. I live 1 mile from the Potomac River, the epicenter of the northern snakehead invasion. I have caught quite a few snakeheads over the last few years. I have spoken with the head biologist who studies them in VA. They're finding they are not causing any issues, just adding to the diversity of fishing opportunities. For the most part, they like to stay in the shallow weed choked back water areas of the river where bass and other gamefish don't frequent. They mostly feed on banded killifish there. If anything, the largemouths are hammering the snakeheads. Think about it, they are long and narrow with no spines... Prime LMB food! One of my favorite baits in the Potomac River these days is a custom swimbait a buddy of my created that looks just like a 6" snakehead YOY. Bass slam it hard! The snakehad has now spread south to the Rappahannock River. it'll just keep spreading through both natural and livewell introductions. There are far worse non natives out there... I think one day, they'll be found all over and will be a highly regarded gamefish. They commonly reach 12 pounds and the world record over 17 pounds was caught less than a mile from my house.

http://news.fredericksburg.com/newsdesk/2013/08/06/local-mans-snakehead-catch-is-world-record/

Travis, I've never considered this before, but I wonder how they might do in a typical LMB / BG pond. Have you heard of anybody bucket stocking them into private ponds?

Thanks Travis!

The Northern Snakehead were first found here in a pond 14 years ago. A fisherman reported to the DNR that he was catching something funny in the pond. They came out and almost shart their self. It created a frenzy, they said this thing could move across land. They fenced the pond in and poisoned it.

The pond was close to the Patuxent River, they said if it got in there it would be unstoppable.

Snakeheads made their way all the way to the Potomac River in no time.

Now they are everywhere, it must be the fastest spreading fish in our history around here.

They are absolutely one of the best eating fish. Honestly, they taste like flounder except sweeter.

Michigan has lots of them. I even electroshocked them up near Alpena in the Thunder bay watershed when I was studying fisheries. My prof wanted me to find a totally new way to age fish. Yeah right...

When I couldn't I got a 'B' on the paper. Or was it a 'C?'

New fish ID? I caught these in a minnow trap in a creek and unlike many before, I do not think one of them is a creek chub. I would like to release them in a pond with YP, GSH, RES, and FHM that will eventually we stocked with SMB, but I want to be sure they will do no harm.

Bottom one is a creek chub and top one is a common shiner. Shiner will survive in your pond, learn to eat pellets and will not spawn. I have some in my pond. I you want them to spawn you will need to have a waterfall. Our member in Ontario DonoBBD got them to spawn in his pond that had a waterfalls. Very enlightening experience for us on PBoss.

Thank you! I was hoping for a "spawner", but I will let them go in my old pond with BG, and LMB. We seem to have a breeding population of some sort of minnow in an emergent wetland. They must have made it through the pump that I used to initially fill it from a small stream, or were on water lilies that I transplanted in. When they get larger, I'll post some pictures.

The snake head is a more aggressive fish then LMB. I totally disagree with your view on the snake head and side with the DNR on this one. Kill them on sight.

Go look on youtube, watch the video where the snake head eats a LMB. snake head isn't afraid of any size fish, they will eat anything in their way once they get to be an adult.

If there is enough weedy cover, mudminnows are pretty predator tolerant. They will never be in large numbers, but they will generally persist. They are also very nocturnal. It takes them quite a long time to "come out of their shell" when placed into an aquarium. However, once they get used to you and the lights, they are really neat fish to watch and study. Never knew anyone else to bucket stock them. It has most likely happened as I have seen them show up in fish surveys the VDGIF has done on lakes and ponds in VA that would have no way for them to naturally occur in them...



They did genetic testing and found the ones in the Potomac River are not related to the fish in the pond in Crofton, MD. My bets are the live fish markets and Asian community in the area, ended up with a handful getting released into the Dogue Creek area where they were first most abundant and they took off from there.

There is an unrelated population in parts of the Susquehanna River watershed as well. The ones showing up in the Rappahhanock are related to the Potomac River fish. My guess is either bucket stocking or some fish road a freshwater bulge and made it through the Bay.

I spoke with John Odenkirk just this past summer who is the most knowledgeable fisheries biologist on northern snakeheads in North America. His opinion was what many were for the first few years. But after studying them for a decade, it's changed and he is no longer concerned about them.

Straight from the VA Tech snakehead page:

"Northern snakeheads do eat primarily fish. They have a similar diet to largemouth bass, but largemouth eat considerably more crayfish and other species such as frogs, turtles, snakes, etc. In comparison, northern snakeheads are almost completely piscivorous (unpublished data). However, there is nothing to suggest that they are any more voracious than the bass that already exist in greater numbers in the river. If anything could eat all the fish in the river, bass would have already done so. Northern snakehead do often select shallower, weedy habitats than bass, where they feed extensively on small banded killifish and mummichog."

I'm not saying it is first legal to catch them and transfer them elsewhere. It certainly isn't! However, there are plenty of fish out there that are more damaging to an ecosystem. A very pristine river system may be more affected, but those pristine river systems likely wouldn't have the habitat snakeheads thrive in and thus wouldn't support them very well anyways...

I've fished, seined and have studied the Potomac River nearly my whole life. I have known it before snakeheads and after their introduction. I have seen no difference in fish composition or size structures. The newly introduced blue catfish will cause far more issues to the Potomac River than the snakeheads will...

The biologists who study this believe that after a heavy rain event or a major snow melt, snakeheads use the layer of fresh water on top of the salt water to migrate into new rivers. Fresh water is less dense than saltwater so it stays on top. Evidently snakeheads have been using this fresh water layer called a "freshet" to travel to new areas.

And of course, They have caught fisherman with live snakeheads in coolers of water. Wonder what they were doing? Big fine in Maryland to get caught with a live snakehead.