gemostein, batman, it's the Snakehead!

This is one ugly 19" fish according to the teen who caught it 3 days ago.
pict: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A51391-2004Apr28.html

In Pine Lake in Wheaton MD where I bike about 5 miles from home but the MD
governor has declared an environmental disaster and they are immediately
started draining the pond. The Northern Snakehead WAS (it's now banned)
imported live from Korea and Japan for food and can grow to 40".

In a similar fiasco 2 years ago in another pond in Croften MD, 20 miles
from here,they poisoned all the fish and found hundreds of dead baby
Snakehead fish.

It's also mean. A park worker passed by and it jumped and left bite marks
on the toe of his steel toed shoes.

Also it can crawl on land from one stream to another and can live up
to 3 days out of water. It'll eat all the native fish in a pond.

I walked over to see the operation and saw satallite feed cameras from 4
TV stations, 2 600 gpm pumps, and a lot of officials standing around.

No jokes heard about "draining the swamp while up to your ass in alligators."
But it was reported the county chief said " It might eat your picnic
lunch then your pets and keep going."

So far they only found one Snakehead but it's a 4 yr old female with
nonfertile ? eggs.


LOL

John in MD

John Webb wrote:

This is one ugly 19" fish according to the teen who caught it 3 days ago.
pict: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A51391-2004Apr28.html

Gotta look for a better picture, but I doubt the thing will be any
prettier.

In Pine Lake in Wheaton MD where I bike about 5 miles from home but the MD
governor has declared an environmental disaster and they are immediately
started draining the pond...

When the kids were little we took them to a wonderful huge park in
Wheaton. The thing I most remember was a slide that was just a big
sheet of shiny aluminum or stainless steel perhaps 15'x8' and you could
slide any direction you wanted besides the fall line. Lots of other
cool stuff that I can't remember, and a little train. Is it still a
wonderful park, or has it been mansionized?

--
Cheers,
Bev
------------------------------------------------
There are 10 types of geek in this world,
those who understand binary and those who don't.

tm wrote:

The Real Bev wrote:
John Webb wrote:

This is one ugly 19" fish according to the teen who caught it 3 days ago.
pict:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A51391-2004Apr28.html

Gotta look for a better picture, but I doubt the thing will be any
prettier.

They grow up to be called Giant Snakeheads-
http://tinyurl.com/ytgfo

I'm amazed that people will go to that much trouble to pull a fish out
of the water, look at it, and throw it back in. If you eat it it's even
more disgusting. Skiing is much better and far more sensible. You ride
up to the top of a mountain, you slide down to the bottom, and then you
do it again. It has a PURPOSE!

In Pine Lake in Wheaton MD where I bike about 5 miles from home
but the MD
governor has declared an environmental disaster and they are immediately
started draining the pond...

When the kids were little we took them to a wonderful huge park in
Wheaton. The thing I most remember was a slide that was just a big
sheet of shiny aluminum or stainless steel perhaps 15'x8' and you could
slide any direction you wanted besides the fall line. Lots of other
cool stuff that I can't remember, and a little train. Is it still a
wonderful park, or has it been mansionized?

http://tinyurl.com/2mgyc

Thank you, Taku. Very nice. Makes up for the snakeheads.

--
Cheers,
Bev
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Once you've provoked a few people into publicly swearing they are going
to hunt you down and kill you, the thrill wears off." -Elric of Imrryr

In article , The Real Bev
wrote:

tm wrote:

The Real Bev wrote:
John Webb wrote:

This is one ugly 19" fish according to the teen who caught it 3 days ago.
pict:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A51391-2004Apr28.html

Gotta look for a better picture, but I doubt the thing will be any
prettier.

They grow up to be called Giant Snakeheads-

http://tinyurl.com/ytgfo

I'm amazed that people will go to that much trouble to pull a fish out
of the water, look at it, and throw it back in. If you eat it it's even
more disgusting. Skiing is much better and far more sensible. You ride
up to the top of a mountain, you slide down to the bottom, and then you
do it again. It has a PURPOSE!

Thanks for the url. That's it - can grow to about 40 inches. This one is
a Northern Snakehead which can live in cold climates where one might find
ski areas. The other Snakehead only lives in tropical areas.

In Pine Lake in Wheaton MD where I bike about 5 miles from home
but the MD
governor has declared an environmental disaster and they are immediately
started draining the pond...

When the kids were little we took them to a wonderful huge park in
Wheaton. The thing I most remember was a slide that was just a big
sheet of shiny aluminum or stainless steel perhaps 15'x8' and you could
slide any direction you wanted besides the fall line. Lots of other
cool stuff that I can't remember, and a little train. Is it still a
wonderful park, or has it been mansionized?

http://tinyurl.com/2mgyc

Yep. That's Wheaton Rregional Park. Pine Lake, home of the snakehead, is in
the center of the park just outside of and drains into Brookside Gardens.

Bev this is the same park with lots of neat stuff for kids such as the
miniature train. Few changes in years other than additions of an indoor
year around ice rink, a tennis bubble and a rink for summer rollerblade
hockey (in the former outdoor ice rink). Most of the hiking and bike
trails are dirt.

The second URL is maintained by my next door neighbors office.

Thanks, tm, for the good links. Being a fish from asia I'd expect you
could order one for dinner in restaurants in Japan.

John in MD

On Sat, 01 May 2004 18:33:20 -0700, The Real Bev
wrote this crap:


I'm amazed that people will go to that much trouble to pull a fish out
of the water, look at it, and throw it back in. If you eat it it's even
more disgusting. Skiing is much better and far more sensible. You ride
up to the top of a mountain, you slide down to the bottom, and then you
do it again. It has a PURPOSE!


So does eating fish, dumbass.

Oh. I didn't get the sarcasm at first.





My T-shirt says, "This shirt is the
ultimate power in the universe."

On Sun, 02 May 2004 01:22:49 -0400, (John Webb) wrote
this crap:


Thanks for the url. That's it - can grow to about 40 inches. This one is
a Northern Snakehead which can live in cold climates where one might find
ski areas. The other Snakehead only lives in tropical areas.

Can those northern one survive a winter in a frozen lake?





My T-shirt says, "This shirt is the
ultimate power in the universe."

In article ,
wrote:

On Sun, 02 May 2004 01:22:49 -0400, (John Webb) wrote
this crap:


Thanks for the url. That's it - can grow to about 40 inches. This one is
a Northern Snakehead which can live in cold climates where one might find
ski areas. The other Snakehead only lives in tropical areas.

Can those northern one survive a winter in a frozen lake?


Yes.

It tolerates temps from 32 to 82 F (0 to 30 C) and "can live under
waters that have iced over" according to this:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/07/0702_020702_snakehead.html

shorter is: http://tinyurl.com/izgk

Luckly the lake , now drained, contained no other Snakehead fish.
But one non-native African Tipilia was found.

John in MD