Snakehead Fish in 7 States, U.S. to Ban Them

Reuters ^ | July 22, 2002 | Tom Doggett

[DBtoo]

This is one of the craziest things I've ever heard. They almost sound like demon fish. Can fish be demonic? (Just kidding, I think....)

[Catspaw]

There I was, no sh!t, trident in one hand, garbage lid-- er, SHIELD in the other. Slowly he circled my boat..."

Ah, memories of my Uncle Bill spearing carp in the ditches around my grandpa's land when they came in to spawn....

[galt-jw]

I think its time we released some God awful creature in these f*cked up countries where this crap comes from....damn japanese beetles and all this other crap...what is the most hostile freaking creature we can send these lizards?

the southeastern farting crocogator.

[Aaron_A]

A little bit of ChiCom economic sabotage?

[CollegeRepublican]

The Maryland DNR and State Police found out who dumped the fish into the pond. They have not released his name, but he dumped two one-foot long Snakeheads into the pond about two years ago. Unfortunatly, the statute of limitations is only two years for what ever they were going to charge him with, and they are not going to press charges.

This pond was my secret bass and pike pond until someone caught one of these snakeheads this spring. The pond is located off of Maryland Rt. 3 in Crofton behind the Dunkin Donuts and the strip Mall. For a while this pond was a zoo. Hundreds of people would come and try and catch the snakeheads, but now the DNR has the pond closed while they try and figure out what to do with these fish. They are afraid that if they drain or poison the pond that the snakeheads, who can breath out of the water for up to three days and can kinda walk on their fins, will walk out of the pond and over the 50 yards through the woods to the Patuxent River. This river leads to the Chesapeake Bay, but luckily the snakehead, if it does get to the river can not live in the saltier waters of the bay.

Right now I believe that the DNR is going to put a herbicide into the lake that will kill all of the plants and then they are going to use some chemical that bonds to fish gills and prevents them from breathing. It should happen soon, like early August. Unfortunatly, my secret fishing hole, will never be the same again, now that everyone knows that this was the pond where the dreaded Killer Snakefish lived. But thats okay, I have other secret fishing places. :)

[SlickWillard]

The fish has primarily been imported to the United States for its excellent taste, even when eaten smoked or dried.

If it tastes better than bass [or more generally, the sunfish family - BLECCH!!!], then why not import the damn thing. Largemouth bass are some of the most disgusting fish on the face of the earth.

I'd only be worried if it started to supplant the catfish population.

[KayEyeDoubleDee]

I've actually run into people that claim to like eating bass.

[aglax]

LMAO, That's the funniest damn thing I've heard all day!

[WindMinstrel]

Does that mean I can start trolling for them from my car? That'd be fun!

[elisabeth]

I drive by Lake Michigan every day and have been seeing goofballs swimming in it all summer...then I come home at night and see on the news how they are closing all Chicago beches because of unsanitary conditions. I, for one, stick to man-made bodies of water because of all these weird things, including frankenfish, in the water!

[Centurion2000]

Bring the big ole fish on !! ... Can you imagine trying to catch that monster .... you'd need a sword and shield in case they mass and jump into the boat.

Almost like the Clampetts going golf-hunting.

"You need a big club, shotgun and then spiked shoes to stamp em out?"

"Wheeel doggy. :)"

[Centurion2000]

what is the most hostile freaking creature we can send these lizards?

Clones of Hillary Clinton and coral snakes.

[StriperSniper]

I bet this writer could conjure up some pretty terrifying descriptions of bass and pike if he put his mind to it.

Check out this:

Professor Spencer F. Baird wrote in 1874 in the report
of the United States Commission on Fish and Fisheries:

"There is no parallel in the point of destructiveness to the bluefish among
the marine species on our coast, whatever may be the case among some
of the carnivorous fish of the South American waters. The bluefish has
been likened to an animated chopping machine, the business of which to
cut to pieces and otherwise destroy as many fish as possible in a given
space of time. All writers are unanimous in regard to the destructiveness
of bluefish. Going in large schools, in pursuit of fish not much inferior to
themselves in size, they move along like a pack of hungry wolves,
destroying everything before them. Their trail is marked by fragments of
fish and by the stain of blood in the sea as, where the fish is too large to
be swallowed entire, the hinder portion will be bitten off and the anterior
part allowed to float away or sink. It is even maintained with great
earnestness that such is the gluttony of the fish that, when the stomach
becomes full, the contents are disgorged and then again filled."

[StriperSniper]

Oops! Forgot the intro:

Basically, they are oceanic piranha! Actually, a school of Blues would destroy a school of piranha, or a shark, or even a bather who was hapless enough to get in their way (this is why many Northeast beaches close when the Blues run). Consider this quote;