Pathfinder
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Invasive snakehead found in river near Annapolis
Low salinity may be allowing species to escape from Potomac
By Candus Thomson, The Baltimore Sun
8:18 p.m. EDT, July 18, 2011
A mature, egg-bearing northern snakehead has been discovered by scientists in a river just south of Annapolis, raising the possibility that low salinity in the Chesapeake Bay this year may have allowed the invasive fish to escape from the Potomac River.
The 23-inch snakehead was found in the Rhode River last Thursday by biologists from the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center taking annual fish samples by net.
...
The toothy alien, a native of Asia, is an aggressive, rapidly breeding predator that can overwhelm habitat and push out local fish. It was first discovered in a Crofton pond in 2002 and eradicated, only to be found in Potomac River tributaries in Maryland and Virginia two years later.
...
Finding this fish, said Havard, "was very disconcerting, especially when we found it was an egg-bearing female. I think there's concern across the board."
Full text:
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/bs-md-snakehead-found0719-20110718,0,6286794.story
Low salinity may be allowing species to escape from Potomac
By Candus Thomson, The Baltimore Sun
8:18 p.m. EDT, July 18, 2011
A mature, egg-bearing northern snakehead has been discovered by scientists in a river just south of Annapolis, raising the possibility that low salinity in the Chesapeake Bay this year may have allowed the invasive fish to escape from the Potomac River.
The 23-inch snakehead was found in the Rhode River last Thursday by biologists from the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center taking annual fish samples by net.
...
The toothy alien, a native of Asia, is an aggressive, rapidly breeding predator that can overwhelm habitat and push out local fish. It was first discovered in a Crofton pond in 2002 and eradicated, only to be found in Potomac River tributaries in Maryland and Virginia two years later.
...
Finding this fish, said Havard, "was very disconcerting, especially when we found it was an egg-bearing female. I think there's concern across the board."
Full text:
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/bs-md-snakehead-found0719-20110718,0,6286794.story