Posted on 10/15/2004 7:24:14 PM PDT by Thinkin' Gal
CHICAGO (Reuters) - The dreaded Northern Snakehead, a voracious predator dubbed the "Frankenfish" that can breathe out of water and wriggle across land, has invaded the Great Lakes, authorities said on Friday.
Scientists with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources identified the 18-inch-long (46-cm-long), sharp-toothed fish netted over the weekend in a harbor near Chicago's downtown by a fisherman, who put it in his freezer and posted a photograph of the creature on the Internet.
A native of China, the Northern Snakehead was first discovered in 2002 breeding in East Coast ponds -- one of which was poisoned and another drained -- and has since been spotted in the Potomac River in Virginia, in Florida and in other places -- but not, until now, in the Great Lakes.
"These things are voracious feeders. They're a very aggressive fish," said Mike Conlin of the Department of Natural Resources. "We hope it's a stray, dumped there by somebody who got tired of feeding it."
Teams will use electric cables in the harbor to shock fish to the surface to look for more of the species, which can survive the cold Midwest winter and eats other fish, frogs and even birds and mammals. If it breeds, it could devour game fish and devastate the lakes' multibillion-dollar fishing industry.
The Great Lakes, the world's largest body of fresh water, has long been plagued by invasive species, with the latest being the Zebra Mussel, the Round Goby and the Sea Lamprey.
Earlier this week, authorities announced plans to erect an electrified, underwater barrier in the waterway connecting Lake Michigan to the Mississippi River watershed to try to stave off the northerly advance of the Asian Carp, a huge fish that gobbles up vital phytoplankton. The carp, which escaped flooded fish farms along the Mississippi, is within 50 miles of Lake Michigan.
Alarmed Asian Carp have been known to leap from the water and knock out people in boats.
The electrified barrier will be adjacent to one erected a few years ago, designed to keep the Round Goby from migrating from Lake Michigan into the Mississippi River watershed, but the effort came too late.
"What on God's green earth were people raising something as disgusting as Carp in fish farms for?"
They were (are?) being used by catfish farmers to clean up the catfish ponds. Apparently escaped into the Mississippi River in the 93 floods.
"A native of China, the Northern Snakehead... These things are voracious feeders. They're a very aggressive fish "
Soon to be available at the food section of WalMart....
Doesn't lurch look completely stoned out of his mind in that picture with Colmes?
Alan Colmes is one of the strangest looking people I've ever seen. The first time I saw him I couldn't help but think of the "Grinch" from Dr. Seuss. Thats who he looks like!
And the guy on the right looks like a young Cryptkeeper.
It ain't the Candiru catfish. That thing is bad.
LOL!
Call it a Kedwards.
The mutation of two slimy snakes that slither on land and swims in scum.
I'm bumping this thread because all of America needs to see this picture of Kerry and Colmes. To say that Kerry resembles Lurch is to malign Lurch, who is by comparison suave and charming.
Possibly because smoked carp (sold under the name "whitefish," and available at any decent deli) is a heavenly treat.
Long term economic warfare by China cannot be ruled out.
I saw it on TV last nite. The local news was doing a story on the Frankenfish.
People have been injured by these fish flying at them!
(The fish, I mean.)
AD FROM IN THE FACE OF EVIL
***
Ain't that the truth!
Every time someone says "snakehead", I think of James Carville.
Comes out next Tuesday . . .
Not great, but good scenes of fish
biting folks in half!
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