![]() ![]() Snakeheads now swim in many Maryland rivers that drain into the Bay, including on the Eastern Shore. So far, the presence of snakeheads in other Bay tributaries has not wreaked environmental havoc. “We are concerned, besides the usual concerns about all invasive species, that this is the general location where eels are trapped and transferred,” Kaufmann said. The threatened Chesapeake logperch and the American eel, which biologists are trying protect and propagate, have been found near the reservoir’s dam. The Octoraro snakeheads appear to have traveled north on their own and were caught below the Octoraro Reservoir. The fish living there, and in random ponds and lakes in the state, have been introduced by people, Kaufmann said. Until this summer, known Pennsylvania populations of snakeheads have been mostly limited to the Schuylkill and Delaware rivers and small ponds and lakes near Philadelphia. They mostly eat fish, frogs, small minnows, crawfish and eels, but have also been known to bring down ducks and small mammals. They can also breathe out of water as long as they stay wet, and use their fins to travel short distances on land. Snakeheads are toothy, slimy and huge, weighing up to 20 pounds. But there is concern about the localized effect the Octoraro snakeheads might have on American eels and Chesapeake logperch. Scientists and anglers worried about the potentially widespread impact of their voracious appetite on the ecosystem as they competed with native fish for food.įifteen years later, with snakeheads living in many of the Bay’s creeks and rivers, such fears have generally been put to rest, at least for now. Snakeheads, a fish native to Asia, caused a great deal of concern in the Chesapeake Bay region in 2002, when they first appeared in a suburban Maryland pond. This went on for about three weeks before it started dying down.” We kept getting calls or emails indicating they caught single fish but friends caught multiple fish. “And then we got a message that there were five of them lying on the bank. “One of the first anglers that contacted me said, ‘I caught one, but a friend of mine caught two the other day,’ ” Kaufmann said. According to Michael Kauffmann, the Southeastern Area Fisheries Manager for the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, it was soon followed by others. ![]() Mabry’s catch was the first snakehead confirmed in the Pennsylvania portion of the Octoraro Creek, a tributary of the Susquehanna River. “They’re fun to catch, but it’s not what I want to see.” He didn’t expect to reel in a 25-inch northern snakehead - a notorious invasive species with a big appetite and the ability to shuffle short distances on land. Pennsylvania angler Mark Mabry knew he had something big on his line while fishing the Lancaster County section of Octoraro Creek this summer. (Photo: Dave Harp)īy Donna Morelli, Bay Journal News Service A snakehead can breathe out of water as long as it stays wet, and use its fins to travel short distances on land. ![]()
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