A single fish pulled from a Pennsylvania creek has prompted an unusually strong warning for anglers. As The Trentonian reported, locals are being advised that if they catch this predator again, do not throw it back.
According to The Trentonian, anglers in the Bensalem area are being warned once again a year after a northern snakehead was caught there.
Officials in Bucks County are urging people to kill northern snakeheads, often referred to as "Frankenfish," that they say are still lurking throughout the area, the paper said.
Snakeheads are native to Asia and have gained a troubling reputation in the United States because they are highly adaptable predators, as Pennsylvania's Fish and Boat Commission described.
The Trentonian noted they can breathe air for short periods, survive out of water longer than many fish, and feed on a wide range of prey, including smaller fish, frogs, and crustaceans.
Officials are therefore urging anglers not to return these fish to the water alive, since even one catch can suggest an invasive species is moving into a creek, pond, or river system where it does not belong, the paper said.
Bensalem is up in the Delaware River drainage. Honestly, I don't see how they expect to keep Snakehead out of that system. Snakeheads are now endemic in the freshwaters of Maryland's Eastern Shore. At the head of those waters, it's just a hop, skip, and a determined wriggle across to streams of the Delaware system.
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