A SAVAGE fish that eats everything it comes across, including people, has been hooked by a British fisherman — sparking fears of a deadly invasion. The giant snakehead, originating from South-East Asia, has a mouth crammed with teeth. It’s deadly in the water, but it can also “crawl” on land and survive out of water for up to four days. The discovery of the fish in Linconshire, northern England, has caused widespread panic amongst conservationists and anglers.
An Environment Agency source told the Sun: “The reaction was, ‘Oh s***’. This is the ultimate invasive species – if it starts breeding here it’s a disaster.” Andy Alder caught the snakehead in the River Witham while using a sprat as bait for pike. He told the Sun: “It had a gob full of razor-sharp teeth. To be honest it looked terrifying.” It is believed the fish may have been smuggled in for an aquarium and illegally released.
Holy Carp, …..er Crap!
Eep
I’ve always hated fish. They just look so scary to me, especially fish like this and most deep water fish like anglers.
I wonder how it tastes with a nice creamy sauce ?
These would be excellent for my moat! The neighborhood riffraff have begun taking swimming lessons, and I’m concerned that my castle is a little too vulnerable 😉
Next time I listen to the TWiT or Cranky Geeks podcast and I hear John I’ll have this picture in mind.
“Vista. Nyah.”
Reminds me of a Lake Manitoba Moriah fish / eel
Its amazing how a fish out of its habitat or out of its water can do in terms of damage and how much they can eat
Sweet mother of god they really look like that.
Reminds me of the X wifes laywer.
If I ever catch the likes of that, the only thing that will come to mind is the Ahhnold quote from “Predator”: You are one ugly motherf*cker.”
I’ve caught sharks larger than myself, but I’d need a shotgun for this one. I like the “cream sauce” remark from lou above.
And if he believes in Sharia courts the Brit’s are in BIG trouble. 🙂
damn, time to watch that B movie about these again
Somebody caught one of those in a Maryland (or Delaware, not sure anymore) pond a few years ago. Fish and Game didn’t mess around- they nuked the entire body of water and got rid of everything.
Not sure how you’d do that in a river though!
#11: Rotenone will kill all fish in a river.
Snakehead fish is a staple in Vietnam. Supposedly good eating.
Looks a lot like Cheney.
Oh For The Love Of Dr Charles Axelrod… It’s a damn snakehead… A commonly sold aquarium fish across the United States.
Commonly sold between the the lengths of 3 to 6 inches, in captivity they can easily exceed 2 feet and are possible to reach 4 or 5 feet in extreme circumstances.
While these are in fact very destructive to environments they are not indigenous to and should be treated as a very serious threat, they are NOT man-eaters. Though they probably bite, they represent no mortal danger to humans.
They represent an evolutionary step (see how this ties into other threads 🙂 ?) between lungfish and modern fish. They have insatiable appetites. They have stunning coloration.
I have raised more than a few of these fish in larger tanks stocked with more aggressive species, but over time my interest in species like this waned in favor of angels and discus and species like that.
I want to catch one of these.
Wrong about commonly sold. Oriental types have a longing for home style food. They have the things imported illegally and following an ancient Asian superstition eat one and release one into local waters. The released one survives by eating everything else in the water, including parts of human swimmers. Another thing to screw up skinny dipping fun on a warm summer night.
The Californicator who imported them paid a $200,000 fine by the way. He apparently wasn’t a republican, or it would have been two bucks..
The Washington Post did an amazing series on the snakehead invasion of Maryland — whole ponds and rivers being poisoned to stop the spread of the killer asian fish — didn’t do anything but great tabloid journalism. It even spawed a movie: Snakehead: Killer Fish
#18. Har! Spawned a movie, thats rich!!!!
#17 – Wrong about commonly sold.
What is the difference between the species sold in pet stores and the variety that the post is about.
The common pet variety seems to me, from the size I’ve gotten them to and the appetites they had, to be no less a threat if released to the wild.
#20–OFTLO==its been awhile since I had my 8X2X3 foot tank, but I still spend time in aquarium shops–we have several excellent ones here in town. I went thru guppies and goldfish to aquatic plants with amphibians, to fresh water fish that looked like salt water fish. I never went up to salt water as I lost too many fish too often to afford salt water.
That final tank of mine for its last 2-3 years, I specialized in very small fish that would school together. Fun to watch the schooling behavior.
Upshot is==I’ve never seen a snake head fish ever. Is there a different name for it in the retail trade? I never did like fish that ate other fish.
Id like a snakehead burger with calamari fries.
and id like to catch the charlie who put that thing in our water.
#21 – Upshot is==I’ve never seen a snake head fish ever. Is there a different name for it in the retail trade? I never did like fish that ate other fish.
It’s called a snakehead. I managed an aquarium shop for years and sold hundreds of them. The last time I saw one in a pet shop was this past weekend when I visited a pet shop.
They are properly showcased with scats, archers, monos, arrowannas and other southeast Asian fish. But, because they are mean bitches which eat anything they can swallow, they often get tossed in with equally distempered cichlids and such.
the only thing that will come to mind is the Ahhnold quote from “Predator”: You are one ugly motherf*cker.”
I’ve always hated fish. They just look so scary to me, especially fish like this and most deep water fish like anglers.