Snakeheads

[Ocean]

Does anyone know where they originate from?

I have 6" fish which are similar to snakeheads that were caught from a small lake. These are common fish found in Sri Lankan rivers and also popular in the fish market as food in some areas of the island. From what I've heard they grow more than 3-4 feet long or more.

Pictures:
http://cl.ly/image/1O1f3E0E0q3e
http://cl.ly/image/2X0W2F1C0g3R
http://cl.ly/image/2K2A1D2z440w

Updates:
They don't grow more than 2-3'.
They eat small fish when bigger.
Not as aggressive as their giant relative that are made extinct by people.
Sri Lanka is in South Asia.

[Oscarsx]

Africa and Asia, kill them on sight! They are destroying our game fish.. :(

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[kensacco]

Yep, snakeheads are now illegal in the entire US

[Discus-n00b]

I'll wait to see the pictures to pass judgement, they are often mistaken for native US Bowfin. If it is indeed a snakehead you need to kill it immediately, some states I believe offer a bounty for them.

[lipadj46]

In New York if you catch a snakehead you are supposed to chop it's head off.

sent from an undisclosed location using morse code

[Bill63SG]

7520875209

[cjr8420]

snakeheads are one awesome predator i saw a vid were a 1' snakehead ripped a 10" bass in half in about a second was badass. but was in an asian fishtank.

[hedut]

they taste much better than a catfish

[Ocean]

Added links to pictures

[Discus-n00b]

Definitely a snakehead, no bowfin there. Where are you located? In the US? If so its illegal, and fish and game will take action on a case like this. I suggest you kill it/them. We aren't causing any snakehead to become extinct, clearly they are not threatened if they reproduce and take over like they do. No invasive species is endanger of becoming extinct.

That looks to be Channa argus, Northern Snakehead. Oh and they are top tier predators in the US.

[MGKelly]

I bought 3 Snakedheads about 25 years ago, one grew bigger than the others and ate them. when it was 18 inches long i gave it to a pet shop the had a giant Oscar and another big Snakehead in a 125 gallon tank. Went back to the pet shop a couple weeks later and the tank was gone. the largest Snakehead killed the oscar and my Snakehead then cracked the tank.
He destroyed the big Snakehead in the half full tank with a arrow. This is a typical Snakehead story they usually don't end well!

[Chicago Discus]

Just trying to help with the photos I no nothing about these fish LOL....Josie

http://i1239.photobucket.com/albums/ff509/snoopodus/2012-08-19at08-42png.jpg
http://i1239.photobucket.com/albums/ff509/snoopodus/2012-08-19at08-43png.jpg
http://i1239.photobucket.com/albums/ff509/snoopodus/2012-08-19at08-42png-1.jpg

[Ocean]

Definitely a snakehead, no bowfin there. Where are you located? In the US? If so its illegal, and fish and game will take action on a case like this. I suggest you kill it/them. We aren't causing any snakehead to become extinct, clearly they are not threatened if they reproduce and take over like they do. No invasive species is endanger of becoming extinct.

That looks to be Channa argus, Northern Snakehead. Oh and they are top tier predators in the US.

Found out that these are Snakehead murrel (Channa striata) and the bigger species were known as Great snakehead (Channa marulius)

I live in Sri Lanka and these are not known to be that predatory.

It's easy to spot most fish during draughts (going through one right now) so the Channa marulius were wiped by people to some extent.

[ganesan]

these are originally from the south east asian rivers and when small fries are nice in an aquarium but become monsters after they grow big.