Nasty invasive fish suspected in Canadian waters

snakehead

I just returned from a week-long camping trip and was greeted to some very unpleasant news in the Canadian fish world!

Apparently, an Ontario woman caught a strange fish in Canadian waters last weekend; that is believed to be a Northern Snakehead.

While fishing in the Welland Canal – which links Lake Erie and Ontario last weekend, Amy Merry reeled-in the weirdest looking fish she, or anyone else around her, had ever seen.

“As I kept reeling it in, it would take off and pull the line back out. I thought it was going to snap the line or even the pole,” Merry told CTV news.

If this ugly invader does indeed turn out to be a Northern Snakehead – one of the few fish species that can actually breathe air – it would be very bad news for the Great Lakes System!

To give you a full appreciation for how nasty these fish are, here’s an excerpt on the Northern Snakehead taken from my book Weird Facts about Fishing.

“The northern snakehead is another odd fish that is native to the Yangtze River in China where they survive in large numbers. However, as with many other accidental introductions into North American waters, they can also be a scary sight and create substantial damage. The northern snakehead story in the United States dates back to the turn of the new millennium where a restaurant owner from New York City reportedly ordered some snakeheads to make soup for his restaurant. Well, that’s when all the trouble started.  

The northern snakehead, you see, is a very peculiar fish in not only its looks but in its ability to breathe air. These critters can live for several days out of water and in China are often packaged and shipped live as they will remain fresh for longer providing a fresher meal. It is believed that the New York restaurant owner received his snakeheads for soup but found them too cute to eat, so later decided to put them in his aquarium instead. As the story goes, his two snakeheads quickly consumed all the ‘feeder fish’ the restaurant owner offered them and in no time became too large for the aquarium. 


It is believed the man then released them into a pond behind the house where these native Chinese fish had their run of all the local pan fish in the lake, which they made short work of devouring. As time went on, the snakeheads reproduced and eventually found their way into other nearby water systems. They have reportedly even been caught by anglers in
Maryland and turned into the Department of Natural Resources for examination. Because of their ability to breathe air and the fact that they are extremely resilient, with such a veracious appetite, the northern snakehead is a real concern to local waters. Some people call them the “Jaws” of the new millennium. They are yet another example of an exotic fish species accidentally released into non-native waters. 


Within a year, it was discovered that the snakeheads had been found in six other
U.S. states.”

19 thoughts on “Nasty invasive fish suspected in Canadian waters”

  1. bout time you got back, must be nice getting 10 weeks holidays a year 😉
    9 days and counting till I’m off to Sudbury for a bear hunt.
    I sent you some bear video but it bounced back, to big I guess but it’s only 15 seconds, but very good video
    oh ya, the fish, I hope I don’t catch one, I don’t even like bringing in a Ling.
    they say they can breath out of water, can they breath cut in half?

    1. Hey Iggy, its good to be back..I see the Blog is pretty quiet when Im not around.

      Bet your looking forward to that bear hunt..we will, of course, require a full report when you get back!

      Try sending the vid again..could have something to do with my email vacation settings..

      Outdoorsguy

  2. well Trapper, I guess I’ll never be a poor man

    full report on the bear, take a look at a few of the videos, I’ll give it another shot today

  3. this is what I got back when I sent you the bear vid

    “This is an automatically generated Delivery Status Notification. Delivery to the following recipients failed. “

  4. QUOTE: “Iggy says: August 9, 2010 at 4:31 pm well Trapper, I guess I’ll never be a poor man” END QUOTE

    Don’t be such a pompass chicken shit and try them you’ll love them.

    1. “Poor man’s Lobster” eh Trapper…well, if its anything like poor man’s steak (bologna)..count me in!!

      Outdoorsguy

  5. QUOTE: “Iggy says: August 9, 2010 at 6:51 pm like I said Trapper, I’ll eat the lobster instead” END QUOTE

    It all makes sense now…….

  6. Iggy, I finally received the bear vid this am …wow, that’s one big sucker isn’t it!

    Too bad you won’t be able to touch him…hehe

    Outdoorsguy

  7. I’ll never touch him alive, but I’ll be dragging him out of the bush in a little more than a week. That is if Mike doesn’t get the itchy finger first LOL
    Did you see the reference video of mike doing the baiting, it give you a good perspective on just how big that bear really is.

  8. Iggy, its still hard to get a full appreciation for the bear’s size..how much does Mike figure it weighs?

    As far as monsters go, I have a video at home taken by Reg Begin Jr(& Sr) of Thunder Bay..a still shot from the vid was featured in my award-winning article Lightning Strikes in Thunder Bay (Meet Ontario’s Bear Experts)..which ran in Rack: Adventures in Trophy Hunting magazine about 10 years ago…that bruin tipped the scales at just under 700-pounds(In the spring) and is by far the largest black bear I have ever seen on video.

    Unbelievably, the Begin bear was only 3rd in Ontario for the P&Y book!

    The story is still available online:

    http://www.sportsmansguide.com/Outdoors/Subject/SubjectRead.aspx?sid=3&aid=129177&type=A

    Outdoorsguy

  9. Hey Outdoorsguy, I just read up on that snakehead in Canadian waters from Aug 8th. Fisheries and Oceans Canada has apparently identified the fish as a Bowfin, not a Snakehead. I think we’re ok!! for now.

    Cheers

    1. Hey Mikey..I cant believe I missed your comment..sorry about that, man!

      That is great news..thanks for letting us know and please keep us posted in you hear any more.

      regards

      Outdoorsguy

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