What should be done with a captured snakehead fish?
If you capture a snakehead fish:
- Do not release the fish or throw it up on the bank (it could wriggle back into the water). Remember, this fish is an air breather and can live a long time out of water.
- Kill the fish by freezing it or putting it on ice for an extended length of time.
- Photograph the fish if you have access to a camera so the species of snakehead fish can be positively identified.
- Contact your nearest fish and game agency or the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (703-358-2148) as soon as possible. Keeping data on the size, number, and location of where snakeheads are caught or seen is vital to controlling this invasive fish.
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What are the potential effects of snakeheads to our waters?
During all of their life stages, snakehead fish compete with native species for food and habitat. A major concern is that snakeheads might out-compete (and eventually displace) important native or other established predatory fish that share the same habitat. As adults, snakeheads can be voracious predators. Should snakeheads become established in North American ecosystems, their predatory behavior...
What is the Federal Government doing about snakehead fish?
Two agencies within the Department of the Interior (DOI) are responsible for researching and regulating snakeheads: the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) . As the research arm of the DOI, the USGS has conducted extensive, worldwide research on snakeheads that provides a basis for regulating the importation and interstate transport of those fish in the...
Where do snakeheads live?
Snakeheads are freshwater fishes with little, if any, tolerance for saltwater. Within their native and introduced ranges, they live in small and large streams, canals, rivers, ponds, reservoirs, and lakes. Many species can tolerate a wide range of pH, and one species living in Malaysia and parts of Indonesia prefers highly acid waters (pH 2.8-3.8). The northern snakehead and several other species...
Related Content
What are the potential effects of snakeheads to our waters?
During all of their life stages, snakehead fish compete with native species for food and habitat. A major concern is that snakeheads might out-compete (and eventually displace) important native or other established predatory fish that share the same habitat. As adults, snakeheads can be voracious predators. Should snakeheads become established in North American ecosystems, their predatory behavior...
What is the Federal Government doing about snakehead fish?
Two agencies within the Department of the Interior (DOI) are responsible for researching and regulating snakeheads: the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) . As the research arm of the DOI, the USGS has conducted extensive, worldwide research on snakeheads that provides a basis for regulating the importation and interstate transport of those fish in the...
Where do snakeheads live?
Snakeheads are freshwater fishes with little, if any, tolerance for saltwater. Within their native and introduced ranges, they live in small and large streams, canals, rivers, ponds, reservoirs, and lakes. Many species can tolerate a wide range of pH, and one species living in Malaysia and parts of Indonesia prefers highly acid waters (pH 2.8-3.8). The northern snakehead and several other species...