Yumm! The Dreaded Snakehead Arrived in Louisiana
The northern snakehead, an invasive fish from Asia that has been eating its way through the Eastern Seaboard since it first appeared in Maryland two decades ago, was spotted for the first time in Louisiana this week.
The fish is equipped with all kinds of adaptations that make controlling it difficult, if not impossible. It can breathe air and survive up to four hours out of the water, and has the ability to slither and crawl on land until it finds food – which usually doesn’t take long since it eats everything, including prey up to a third of its own size.
Nola.com describes the invasive species's arrival in the Bayou State: “Usually, measuring about three feet, the snakehead will eat just about anything it can sink its jagged little teeth into: crawfish, dragonflies and fish popular with anglers, like bass and crappie. They’ve been known to wriggle out of the water to poach lizards and tree frogs. Ducks, mice, and even AA batteries have been found in snakehead bellies.”
Native to China and North Korea, snakeheads were likely brought to the US. as aquarium pets. They made their first foothold outside the tank in 2002 in a Crofton, Maryland pond. Within two years the little monster permanently established itself in the Potomac, and is considered an apex predator in the state.
Snakeheads can reproduce by about the age of three and they’re not shy about it. A spawning female will drop up to 15,000 eggs at a time, and do it again and again, as often as five times a year. It has no natural predators so it runs (swims, crawls, etc) rampant over ecosystems.
“Our greatest concern is that they’ll rapidly expand and have an impact on our Louisiana fisheries,” said Rob Bourgeois, the “aquatic nuisance species coordinator” with the state’s department of Wildlife and Fisheries. “They seem to live in places they shouldn’t.”
The voracious interloper does have one Achilles’ heel: it is apparently delicious, with white, flaky meat comparable to cod. The fish can even be found on menus in some Baltimore restaurants. (True Chesapeake Oyster Company serves a butter-poached snakehead with asparagus, cauliflower puree and sauce beurre blanc.) Let’s eat it into oblivion!
Photo credit: USFWS
