'Frankenfish' Caught in Great Lakes

CHICAGO (Reuters) - The dreaded Northern Snakehead, a voracious predator
dubbed the "Frankenfish" that can breathe out of water and wriggle across
land, has invaded the Great Lakes, authorities said on Friday.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...t_snakehead_dc

- or -

http://tinyurl.com/42rqn

Also archived at iheartmypond.com.

Benign Vanilla wrote:

CHICAGO (Reuters) - The dreaded Northern Snakehead, a voracious predator
dubbed the "Frankenfish" that can breathe out of water and wriggle across
land, has invaded the Great Lakes, authorities said on Friday.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...t_snakehead_dc

It's a bit early to panic, but it's nice to see authorities are reacting
swiftly to try to determine if it's anything more than an isolated release.
More important, I think, is the plan "to erect an electrified, underwater
barrier in the waterway connecting Lake Michigan to the Mississippi River
watershed to try to stave off the northerly advance of the Asian Carp". It
makes a lot of sense to biologically disconnect these two bodies of water,
though I'm a bit sceptical that this will accomplish that. We only seem
able to prevent aquatic migrations by accident (like damming rivers) rather
than by plan.

With typical journalistic depth, the article says:

"The Great Lakes, the world's largest body of fresh water, has long been
plagued by invasive species, with the latest being the Zebra Mussel, the
Round Goby and the Sea Lamprey."

Zebra Mussels have been a problem for almost 20 years, now. iirc, Sea
Lamprey's have been a problem since the 60s. If that's the pace of
invasion, the Great Lakes are actually doing remarkably well.
--
derek