spectr17
08-05-2002, 09:03 PM
Sat, Aug. 03, 2002 ###
Predatory Fish Found in N.C. Lake
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) - Two fish reported to have been caught in Lake Wylie are snakeheads, a Chinese predator that's caused alarm elsewhere on the East Coast, a state scientist has confirmed.
It was the first time the alien species has been detected in the state.
Scientists in Maryland are scrambling to wipe out the spawn of two adult snakeheads dumped into a pond two years earlier. The fish, sold live in markets, can grow to more than 3 feet long, feed voraciously on other fish and crawl short distances on land.
A federal proposal would ban people from importing snakeheads or shipping them across state lines. The fish, allowed in North Carolina, are banned in 14 states.
Charlotte fisherman Gene Polk said he and a fishing partner caught the two toothy, foot-long fish in the lake Wednesday morning.
"The only thing we know for sure is they are snakeheads," said Lawrence Dorsey, district fisheries biologist for the wildlife commission.
Dorsey said the state will keep a "vigilant eye" for further reports from fishermen but don't, for now, plan to go looking for the fish.
Wayne Starnes, research curator of fish at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh, identified the fish Thursday through digital images. They're probably a northern species of snakehead, like those found in Maryland, Starnes said.
"If they're in (Wylie) and established, then the horse is out of the barn," he said.
Predatory Fish Found in N.C. Lake
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) - Two fish reported to have been caught in Lake Wylie are snakeheads, a Chinese predator that's caused alarm elsewhere on the East Coast, a state scientist has confirmed.
It was the first time the alien species has been detected in the state.
Scientists in Maryland are scrambling to wipe out the spawn of two adult snakeheads dumped into a pond two years earlier. The fish, sold live in markets, can grow to more than 3 feet long, feed voraciously on other fish and crawl short distances on land.
A federal proposal would ban people from importing snakeheads or shipping them across state lines. The fish, allowed in North Carolina, are banned in 14 states.
Charlotte fisherman Gene Polk said he and a fishing partner caught the two toothy, foot-long fish in the lake Wednesday morning.
"The only thing we know for sure is they are snakeheads," said Lawrence Dorsey, district fisheries biologist for the wildlife commission.
Dorsey said the state will keep a "vigilant eye" for further reports from fishermen but don't, for now, plan to go looking for the fish.
Wayne Starnes, research curator of fish at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh, identified the fish Thursday through digital images. They're probably a northern species of snakehead, like those found in Maryland, Starnes said.
"If they're in (Wylie) and established, then the horse is out of the barn," he said.