Garrison Hilliard
August 22nd, 2004, 12:22 AM
‘Frankenfish’ invades Schuylkill and Delaware rivers
Evan Brandt , 08/20/2004
Frankenfish is here.
But don’t worry, you don’t need to hide the children just yet.
So dubbed by the media when it was discovered in a Maryland pond, largely because it can breath air and walk on land, "Frankenfish" is really the northern snakehead, an exotic Asian import that is now believed to have made its way into the Schuylkill River.
The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission recently announced that in July two had been caught in 17-acre Meadow Lake, located in FDR Park in Philadelphia.
Given that the lake is "almost immediately adjacent to the Schuylkill River," and given that the fish has the ability to literally walk on its front fins to the nearest body of water, "there really isn’t much doubt that it’s in the Schuylkill and the Delaware," said Dan Tredinnick, press secretary for the fish and boat commission.
As for its above-water air breathing abilities, "we’re talking days here," said Tredinnick.
The northern snakehead, part of a diverse family of fish native to parts of China, Russia and Korea, was originally brought to the states as a food source because of its ability to live outside water.
"People could literally buy it live and you don’t get much fresher than that," Tredinnick said. "I’m told they’re quite good."
The snakehead’s "native range is a place with seasonal waters that could dry up and it evolved the ability to breathe air and pull itself across land looking for puddles or other bodies of water," he said.
While these abilities -- and Maryland’s somewhat extreme but unsuccessful attempts in 2002 to exterminate the fish in that forlorn pond -- have attracted the attention of the national media and given the fish its horror-film nickname, the danger it represents is less dramatic than it is sobering.
"Clearly, there’s no health or safety concern, and we don’t need to sell all our possessions and head for higher ground," said Tredinnick with a laugh.
The primary concern that officials and scientists have with the snakehead and other foreign imports is their ability to upset an established ecosystem. Northern snakeheads are predatory fish and will compete with other fish species for food and habitat.
They can reach a length of 33 inches and can survive in water with little dissolved oxygen. They feed on fish, frogs and other aquatic animals.
Despite the fish’s unique abilities, the snakehead’s arrival in Pennsylvania waters is, in the long run, no more a concern than that caused by other invasive species which have arrived in recent years, Tredinnick said, it’s just more colorful.
"Any time you introduce a top-level predator into an established ecosystem, something has to give," said Tredinnick. "It sets off a chain reaction, and there’s no way to predict what the final result will be."
When species such as the snakehead are introduced to an ecosystem, without a natural predator to keep their populations in check, they can overrun native species which may not have a defense.
"Really it’s a concern with all the exotic imports, but there’s no way to influence how it turns out," he said. And the imports really don’t have to come from faraway countries, either.
For example, the Schuylkill and Delaware rivers are now home to the flathead catfish, native to the Great Lakes, the Mississippi River Basin and western Pennsylvania.
Flathead catfish are voracious eaters and there is concern they may upset the food chain in the Schuylkill River ecosystem.
In Erie, problems are being caused by a cute little guy called the round goby. Only four inches long, it eats the eggs of other fish species and its spiny dorsal fins make it less appetizing to predators that might keep the numbers under control.
As for the snakehead, it is unlawful for a person to sell, purchase, offer for sale or barter live snakehead fish in Pennsylvania.
Live snakeheads are also unlawful to introduce, import, possess or transport in Pennsylvania.
"We’re just asking people if they catch them, and they’re not going to eat them, to dispose of them properly," he said.
In other words, kill them.
"If you just toss them onto the bank of the river, odds are they’re going to crawl back into the water," Tredinnick said.
http://www.pottstownmercury.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=12738813&BRD=1674&PAG=461&dept_id=18041&rfi=6
(And Bear's a town in Delaware!)
Evan Brandt , 08/20/2004
Frankenfish is here.
But don’t worry, you don’t need to hide the children just yet.
So dubbed by the media when it was discovered in a Maryland pond, largely because it can breath air and walk on land, "Frankenfish" is really the northern snakehead, an exotic Asian import that is now believed to have made its way into the Schuylkill River.
The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission recently announced that in July two had been caught in 17-acre Meadow Lake, located in FDR Park in Philadelphia.
Given that the lake is "almost immediately adjacent to the Schuylkill River," and given that the fish has the ability to literally walk on its front fins to the nearest body of water, "there really isn’t much doubt that it’s in the Schuylkill and the Delaware," said Dan Tredinnick, press secretary for the fish and boat commission.
As for its above-water air breathing abilities, "we’re talking days here," said Tredinnick.
The northern snakehead, part of a diverse family of fish native to parts of China, Russia and Korea, was originally brought to the states as a food source because of its ability to live outside water.
"People could literally buy it live and you don’t get much fresher than that," Tredinnick said. "I’m told they’re quite good."
The snakehead’s "native range is a place with seasonal waters that could dry up and it evolved the ability to breathe air and pull itself across land looking for puddles or other bodies of water," he said.
While these abilities -- and Maryland’s somewhat extreme but unsuccessful attempts in 2002 to exterminate the fish in that forlorn pond -- have attracted the attention of the national media and given the fish its horror-film nickname, the danger it represents is less dramatic than it is sobering.
"Clearly, there’s no health or safety concern, and we don’t need to sell all our possessions and head for higher ground," said Tredinnick with a laugh.
The primary concern that officials and scientists have with the snakehead and other foreign imports is their ability to upset an established ecosystem. Northern snakeheads are predatory fish and will compete with other fish species for food and habitat.
They can reach a length of 33 inches and can survive in water with little dissolved oxygen. They feed on fish, frogs and other aquatic animals.
Despite the fish’s unique abilities, the snakehead’s arrival in Pennsylvania waters is, in the long run, no more a concern than that caused by other invasive species which have arrived in recent years, Tredinnick said, it’s just more colorful.
"Any time you introduce a top-level predator into an established ecosystem, something has to give," said Tredinnick. "It sets off a chain reaction, and there’s no way to predict what the final result will be."
When species such as the snakehead are introduced to an ecosystem, without a natural predator to keep their populations in check, they can overrun native species which may not have a defense.
"Really it’s a concern with all the exotic imports, but there’s no way to influence how it turns out," he said. And the imports really don’t have to come from faraway countries, either.
For example, the Schuylkill and Delaware rivers are now home to the flathead catfish, native to the Great Lakes, the Mississippi River Basin and western Pennsylvania.
Flathead catfish are voracious eaters and there is concern they may upset the food chain in the Schuylkill River ecosystem.
In Erie, problems are being caused by a cute little guy called the round goby. Only four inches long, it eats the eggs of other fish species and its spiny dorsal fins make it less appetizing to predators that might keep the numbers under control.
As for the snakehead, it is unlawful for a person to sell, purchase, offer for sale or barter live snakehead fish in Pennsylvania.
Live snakeheads are also unlawful to introduce, import, possess or transport in Pennsylvania.
"We’re just asking people if they catch them, and they’re not going to eat them, to dispose of them properly," he said.
In other words, kill them.
"If you just toss them onto the bank of the river, odds are they’re going to crawl back into the water," Tredinnick said.
http://www.pottstownmercury.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=12738813&BRD=1674&PAG=461&dept_id=18041&rfi=6
(And Bear's a town in Delaware!)