Snakes in the Water

Steve Hafvenstein
March 28, 2011
Snakes in the Water
Imagine sitting next to a quiet peaceful lake. You’re about the take a bite of your ham sandwich when suddenly you discover it missing. Finding it rather strange you tell yourself, “I guess I’ll just make another one.” All of a sudden there is something moving on your lap! It’s a fish! And it is looking for the mustard to go with the ham sandwich it just stole from you. Running a safe distance away, you glance back to see the fish ravaging your picnic in a few despairing moments. Never seeing a fish in America like this before, you mutter to yourself, “impossible!”, or is it? Normally a fish shouldn’t be out of the water. The quote, “Like a fish out of water,” speaks about a person who is uncomfortable with the situation they are in, not so with this fish. Whoever came up with the quote probably wasn’t thinking of a fish that can live both in and out of the water and feel comfortable either way. But what is this fish? Where does it come from, how did it get in America, and how big of a pest has it become? Snakeheads are found in most Asian lakes and rivers. They were thought to have come here via the Asian fish market where they are considered a high end delicacy. Upon entry into the United States, they were placed in pools until a most unfortunate day came along when they were to become, a fancy meal. However, a few of the snakeheads, being able to survive both in the water and on land, crawled out of their pools and left in search of better waters, and so they became fugitives in the United States. Most lakes that have inlets to major rivers such as the Mississippi are susceptible to snakehead invasion. Once a snakehead invades a lake it will consume all of the native fish until the lake becomes a desolate wasteland. Gluttons you might call them, half fish and half snake that is able to live both in and out of the water due to the presence of both lungs and gills in the fish. As part of the bowfin, family, they closely resemble a native bowfin and many a fisherman has thrown them back mistakenly thinking they were a native fish. A few years ago while fishing at my cabin, (which has inlets coming from the Mississippi), I caught what I thought at the time, to be a snakehead. The fish was large, snakelike, and when I took it off the hook, (or rather my pliers took it off the hook), it flipped up on its belly and started squirming around the boat like a snake, using its fins once in awhile to propel itself. This caused a ruckus in the boat as everyone, who was at one point, standing on the floor, began scrambling to find the nearest open seat to jump up on. Being the oldest I eventually summed up enough courage to drive the boat home to get the fish identified to see whether or not it was a snakehead. Only to find out, once it was properly identified, to be a native bowfin. We threw it back into the lake. Invasive species costs the United States millions of dollars each year. We need to do something to stop the spread of non-native invasive species. I believe the public needs to become educated on the threat of invasive species spread. In addition, I believe that a small bounty should be placed upon the snakeheads to give fishermen some incentive to catch and turn in snakeheads. In addition the DNR should use seine nets, electro-shocking, and chemical attractants to stop the spread on the snakeheads in our lakes and rivers. Also laws need to be enacted to control goods imported into the United States. We need to do something to stop the spread of this, “Snake in the Water.”