Posted on 07/12/2002 9:24:09 AM PDT by aculeus
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) - Nearly 100 meat-eating fish native to China have been found in a Maryland pond where a pet owner dumped two of them in 2000, state officials said Friday amid concern that the fish will become a major threat to native species.
The northern snakehead can grow to be 3 feet long and has a voracious appetite.
The situation is of special concern to authorities because the Little Patuxent River is about 75 yards from the pond, and northern snakeheads can live three days out of water and even walk short distances on their fins in search of food.
"They can gain a foothold here and begin to proliferate in ways that would displace native organisms," said Eric Schwaab, director of the Department of Natural Resources Fisheries Service.
On Thursday, agency officials caught 99 young northern snakeheads by using an electroshock method that stuns them, causing them to float to the surface of the water.
"We've said all along that if there are juveniles in there, there would be hundreds or thousands of them," agency spokesman John Surrick said Friday.
Two adult fish were released into the Crofton pond two years ago, police said Thursday. State officials discovered the presence of the species in May, when an angler caught a suspicious fish and provided a photo for identification. Since then, biologists have caught several young fish.
State officials are setting up a scientific panel to investigate the problem and come up with recommendations to remove the snakeheads from the pond.
No charges were filed against the owner of the two original fish, whom police would not identify, because the statute of limitations has expired.
"They outgrew the capability of his care, so the individual chose to release them into what he felt was a safe environment," said Capt. Mark Sanders of the Maryland Natural Resources police.
Nice picture!
The real fault here lies with the owner. It's not like the snakehead is an unknown fish. There is a wealth of information, both print and online, that stresses at the outset the monstrous size this aggressive predator grows to. The owner obviously decided that somehow their desire to have this sort of monster would overrule biology and bought them anyway.
I can't even tell you how many times I had to deal with idiots like this when I worked in the tropical fish biz. People are TOTALLY CLUELESS about fish. They look at them as toys or ornaments, not as living things that, well, LIVE. Then one day a year later they wake up and the "cute lil' snake-fish" is two feet long, flopping water on the floor, eating everything in sight and viciously attacking anything put in the tank. Do yourself a favor and READ UP ON ANY ANIMAL BEFORE YOU DECIDE TO BUY IT. Once it's yours it's your responsibility forever.
Unless, of course, you're a typical American. Then you'll need a dictionary to look that "r-word" up.
No, I'm in the aquarium business, and I can say with certainty that this owner knew exactly what he was doing. By the time he released two adult snakeheads, he'd already fed them thousands of feeder goldfish. Snakeheads can be so mean they'll bite your hand if you put it in the tank. Most fish, including piranhas, won't.
Regulations for the importation of tropical fish vary, as is appropriate, from state to state, based on determinations of whether or not those fish might be a pest if released into the wild. There are a number of temperate and tropical species of snakehead, and I believe these specimens are among the former. Not sure if they are legal in Maryland or not.
Of course what would I know? I am only a carpio.
Perhaps the term choice only means something to her as it relates to killing babies? Vegan babies no doubt. Unbelievable.
I'd try by equating her direction of "proper" behavior to Nazism. I'm sure that would go over like a meaty piece of lettuce.
Oh, for PETA sake.
Especially skinny dipping.
Well I heard that Carville eats meat, stays out of the water for three days, and travels on his belly. It might be.
If they had any credibility this pond would be surrounded and poisened/drained to protect the Chessie Bay. 9 acre ponds are nothing, the bay extends all the way up to New York and has a huge drainage basin.
We've got the same non-functional a**h**es running the show as the US Forest Service that's burning down millions of acres because they didn't do their job.
Out here on the Left Coast, we have tofu-eating fish.
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