Science: Alien Invader Update

Remember hearing the news about the coming end of the bassin’ world back in 2004? You know, all the green fish were going to be eaten, tourneys were going to be out of business, along with the guides. All that lost revenue, and jazz.

It was the new alien invader, and it had landed smack dab in the middle of Washington, D.C.

Back in 2004, that invader was the snakehead, and the realization that they had somehow gotten into the Potomac River and were reproducing. The headlines in all the bass magazines were about how the newly introduced species was going to eat the river out of house and home. “The snakeheads are in charge,” said one noted authority.

It’s been 7 years now, so I thought I’d check in on the status of the snakeheads and see what is going on in the river. Turns out there are still plenty of bass, and bass tournies. The guides are there too, along with a few new ones that are actually guiding for the new exotic invader – capitalism at its finest, or making lemonade out of a lemon.

Virginia Tech has been at the forefront of much of the research, and a quick check of their snakehead web page found the following:

> Despite their menacing appearance, there have been no known attacks on people. In fact, they seem to be pretty skittish around human traffic.

> Snakehead nest and live in areas of heavy hydrilla, usually in 3′ of water or less, and away from any current flow.

> Peak spawning begins in June when water temps approach the 80 degree mark.

> Snakeheads continue to expand in the river system, with all eyes watching to see if they can make it into the upper system, as well as how far south they might go. It has been thought that the more salty waters found downstream will restrict their movement in that direction.

>  Their preferred habitat conditions showed they mostly fed on banded killifish (nearly 40% of the stomach samples). Various panfish made up another 10-15%. Largemouth only comprised 1% of the stomach samples identified. The decimation of LMB pops by snakeheads seems to just be sensationalism at this point. In fact, there is some speculaton that bass are starting to figure out that small snakeheads make a good food source, and have likened young snakeheads to ‘ the gobies of the Potomac.’

> Finally, some bassers have lost a lot of money in the form of tungsten weights, which the snakeheads have a habit of biting off when flipped in shallow water with various soft plastics.