Wild Snakehead And Fry - Thailand

[block2]

Hi All,

There's a beck/stream that runs down the side of our home, most of the year it's dry, it's a runoff for when the village lake floods, but after the floods and the water subsides theres usually small pools left, which eventually dry up. I managed to capture a few photos of a snakehead and it's frys...

You can see the Snakehead below the white bag and it's fry above the white bag..there where hundreds of them, a beautiful red/orange in colour.

http://i470.photobucket.com/albums/rr65/block2_photos/SNfry.jpg

Here the Snakehead is to the left of the bag with the fry to the left of the Snakehead.

http://i470.photobucket.com/albums/rr65/block2_photos/SNfry1.jpg

Where ever the fry went the Snakehead was not far behind, if any other fish came near the Snakehead would chase them away...here the Snakehead is surrounded by it's fry.

http://i470.photobucket.com/albums/rr65/block2_photos/SNfry2.jpg

Here the Snakehead is to the left of the bag once again and it's fry above it.

http://i470.photobucket.com/albums/rr65/block2_photos/SNfry3.jpg

I asked Wan what would happen to the Snakehead once the pool dried up and she reckons it's digs an hole in the mud and burys itself until the next floods come...this year though we had more rain just before the pool dried up and the beck/stream filled up again and I never seen the snakehead and fry again...so I imagine the snakehead and its fry ended up further down stream in a bigger pond somewhere.

Regards
jeff & Wan

[TURQ64]

Good riddance to bad rubbish!..People having 'fun' with snakeheads have caused what is shaping up to be our worst invasive species yet here in the lower forty-eight....

[foreese]

Not so Turq, according to Columbia University studies:

"Mode(s) of Introduction: C. argus was introduced through intentional release by Asian food importers to establish harvestable stocks of the snakehead to supplement/reduce foreign import of the highly desired food product (Harris, 2002). C. argus has also been introduced through release of pet snakeheads, as was the case in of the Crofton, MD breeding pair in 2002. As reported in the Washington Post, a local man had originally ordered the pair of live snakeheads from a Chinatown market in New York to prepare a traditional soup remedy for his ill sister; however, his sister had recovered by the time the order arrived and the man released the fish into the pond near Crofton and after they had outgrown their aquarium (Huslin, 2002)."

[TURQ64]

I don't study at Columbia, but I've sailed the Chesapeake many a moon, and talked with the Fish and Wildlife guys catching them at the mouth of the Potomoc...however they got into the water doesn't concern me an iota, but just like the Asian Carp, they're bad business for us...bad dudes....still invasive,non natives I guess that's JMO

[hedut]

well those fish actually pretty good to eat :), and in Asia human is hunting them :)

[discusdave]

I kept Channa micropeltes (red line snakehead) when I lived up north, and in my 37 years of fish keeping, it is the only fish I've seen that kills in excess of its needs. Mean brutes.

[Darrell Ward]

They are probably the most aggressive non native species found in the US. Native fish species don't stand a chance in areas where snakeheads are found. If anyone catches a snakehead in US waters, it is to be killed immediately, and taken to Fish and Game. That's the routine.

[TURQ64]

Last year, while sailing in the Tallships Challenge, I met up with some Wisconsin fishermen that have come across an occasional Giant Snakehead (same subspecie, name game)..It had me thinking for a day or two whether or not even a Northern Pike stood a chance against one..the dumb sh*t you think about while helming....

[Darrell Ward]

Last year, while sailing in the Tallships Challenge, I met up with some Wisconsin fishermen that have come across an occasional Giant Snakehead (same subspecie, name game)..It had me thinking for a day or two whether or not even a Northern Pike stood a chance against one..the dumb sh*t you think about while helming....

Makes one wonder. Muskies and Alligator Gars are no pushovers either.