MUHAMMAD FARKHAN B SALLEH
Apr 15th, 2009
Apr 15th, 2009
Attack of the Killer walking Snakeheads
I was clearing my links and I saw one which I had to post about. It’s a video about a ‘foreign fish’ found in Northern American freshwater system.
What I find interesting about this video is that it only proves too well that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. Without figuring out full facts about the fish, it is being perpetuating a species as being more harmful than it actually is. Of course I am not denying that a full grown snakehead is a ferocious predator but there are several errors in that report.
1) That is not a Giant Snakehead (channa micropeltes, http://habitatnews.nus.edu.sg/guidebooks/freshfish/text/234.htm). The fish in question is a channa argus (http://fisc.er.usgs.gov/Snakehead_circ_1251/html/channa_argus.html). A Giant Snakehead can grow to 20-30kg and are commonly found in the indochine region. That is a variant of the snakehead which grows to relatively big sizes but is more commonly known for making herbal remedies in East Asia. In fact, that is the main reason why it made it to a different continent altogether (to be elaborated later on. In retrospect, the only reason I can see why this fish is there is because of the influx of East Asians. Maybe that’s the real reason they hate the fish.).
The difference would be in the patterns on the spawn. While all snakeheads have orange spawns, they can be differentiated by their black markings. Secondly, if you have been observant enough, giant snakeheads are purple/green in the adult stage. Really pretty. But the snakeheads in America are not. The patterns resemble those of the common snakehead found in Southeast Asia. Ferocious yes. Fishzilla no.
While the feeding habits of both varieties do not differ much, it is still important to note that NatGeo, as a source, failed to acknowledge that both fish are in fact different. Instead they chose to dramatize the effect with horror stories from Thailand of a gigantic foreign fish and an equally terrifying label, ‘Fishzilla’.
2) Snakeheads are as much predator as they are prey. Snakeheads release thousands of eggs however few barely make it through their juvenile period. This is where the irony lies. Of course unfortunately, being in a foreign environment means the local fish wouldn’t know its predatory nature. And over time, the local fish might find it better to eat the young of the snakeheads. However, the local authorities have decided to take things into their own hands by poisoning entire stretches of river. Yes. They did that. I have video proof of that.
Of course what they failed to realize then was that snakeheads have the uncanny ability to bury themselves in mud. Who would have thought about that? But of course they failed to see that coming if they failed to reaize they were killing off more native fish and microorganisms than the snakeheads were, all compressed into a sunny afternoon.
3) Which brings me to my final point about why these fellas were there in the first place. Here’s a summary.
pre 2001: Legal to possess snakeheads. Most widely available snakehead sold as live fish for consumption.
2001: Fish farmer found to be farming snakeheads.
july 2002: 3 snakehead farms established to be existing. Possession of snakeheads declared illegal.
Since then, it’s been pretty much raid after raid on live fish sellers who seem to have a constant supply of this fish. Apparently it has become hot stuff on the menus.
Now the problem is this. Imagine if your illegal fish farm was being stormed by agents, considering you probably have an adjoining river to ensure fresh water supply, would it not make sense to release some if not all of your fish into the river to reduce the incriminating charges?
I guess in all fairness, this post says less about the snakehead than it does about the American public and their over-enthusiastic response to ‘Fishzilla’.
References
Lim K P and Ng K L (2005) A guide to the freshwater fishes of Singapore
United States Geological Survey (2008) channa argus
