"Nospam9212" wrote in message ,SNIP.


So now I am confused...

The article at the link states...

"The DNR said an employee misidentified the fish as a native bowfin."

...is the "native bowfin" NOT a snakehead? I was under the impression most
people used the two names for the same fish.. not true? Or are they making a
point that they have a native bowfin in Wisconsin and this snakehead version of
a bowfin, is not one of them?

As far as MA... we most certainly do have a bowfin population:

The Bowfin is native to North America and has a wide distribution. Other names for them are
dogfish, lawyers and mudfish. We have them in waters up here in northern Wisconsin and I've caught
them in central Florida. Same fish.

In general appearance, the Snakehead and the Bowfin are similar.

BUT....The Snakehead is a different fish. It's native to southeast Asia and was brought to this
country as an aquarium fish. They are very aggressive and voracious. People who buy these are also
the same people that buy piranha and Oscars, they enjoy watching predatory fish in their fish tanks.
But the Snakehead grows fairly rapidly and soon outgrows the tank. At this point, some people will
just release them into local lakes and rivers, without thought to what the potential for disaster
is. That's probably what happened here.

I don't know if it ever held up to IGFA scrutiny, but a while back, someone was fishing in the
cooling pond of one of our power plants. This body of water never freezes over due to the warm
water discharge. The guy caught a large fish and couldn't identify it so he put it in a bucket and
called the local game warden. The game warden wasn't certain either so he took it to the fisheries
biologists. They identified it as a Red Piranha and it was larger than the current world record at
the time. The previous world record had been caught in Columbia, South America, this fish was
caught in Lake Columbia, Columbia Wisconsin. How's that for irony? It's theorized that the
fish was dumped from an aquarium and because of the warm water discharge, was able to survive the
winters here in Wisconsin.
--
Steve
OutdoorFrontiers
http://www.outdoorfrontiers.com
G & S Guide Service and Custom Rods
http://www.herefishyfishy.com