Tag Archives: snakehead

snakefish: the sequel

This really is a small town. As such, it seems that everyone has been overtaken by Snakefish Mania. It’s sort of a welcome relief from the “build a bomb shelter and stockpile canned goods cause we’re all gonna die on the 4th of July” mania.

Two more articles in the Post today:
“Freaky Fish Story Flourishes: Anglers Crowd Tiny Crofton Pond Seeking Elusive Prey” in the Metro section and “Stop That Fish! Snakeheads Walk All Over Crofton in the Style section.”

We now return you to our regular scheduled planning for Armaggedon, already in progress.

I feel like I've seen this movie…

Freak Fish Found.

The wanted posters go up. The fishermen descend on the lake to capture the big fish. Someone caught the big fish. Everyone rejoiced.

There’s just one problem.

The fish Gillespie and the boys caught was 26 inches long. Initial reports of the fish, which was caught by another angler and thrown back, was that it was about 19 inches long.

Where’s Roy Scheider when you need him?

snakehead still not scary enough for you?

How ’bout this?

From today’s Washington Post:

Freakish Fish Causes Fear in Md.: Carnivore Moves on Land, Can Survive 4 Days Without Water”

Any article about a renegade fish that contains the phrase, “Dreaded by fish biologists…” is pretty scary stuff if you ask me. Even fish biologists hate this fish. What does that tell you?

And how about this:

The fear is: This thing could hop from the pond, across the floodplain and into the river, and then all bets are off,” said Bob Lunsford, a biologist with the department. “It’s the baddest bunny in the bush. It has no known predators in this environment, can grow to 15 pounds, and it can get up and walk. What more do you need?”

I have some vague memory of these things being a problem in Florida and I wanted to know how fast they can move.

While researching this matter, I checked out the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Page They have pictures of the snakehead and an advisory, but first I have to point out the excellent headline that is right above the snakehead advisory:

“Another marine invader: cannibalistic alien jellyfish enter the Gulf.”

70 foot long tentacles, folks. I’ve heard of these too, but I just loved that headline so much I got derailed for a moment. That’s poetry. No, actually, it’s not. But it’s extremely ominous sounding, very 50s sci-fi movie-ish.

Here’s the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Press Release about the snakefish, in case you find you just can’t get enough snakefish in your day.

Cooler still, I just found that one of my best friends from high school is a biologist at DEP. Obviously, I was meant to become obsessed with snakefish today because it led me to her. How about that? I’ll ask her how fast the snakefish can move on land. Or maybe I’ll just say hi.