Two Snakehead Fish Caught In Potomac River In Last Week

[hatrack]

ROCKVILLE, Md. - "A second northern snakehead has been caught by a fisherman in the Potomac River, Maryland officials said, a sign that the destructive alien species may have invaded the Washington area's largest river.


The 12-inch immature female was found in the river Wednesday just south of Fort Washington by an angler who turned it over the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. The agency confirmed that the fish was a northern snakehead, a nonnative species imported from China.

The discovery comes nearly a week after a fisherman caught a similar sized snakehead May 7 in a small tidal creek near Mount Vernon, Va., just across the river from Fort Washington.

That has led state environmental officials to worry that the voracious fish that can destroy an ecosystem and live out of water may be spawning in the Potomac. "Two fish, same size, same area. It makes you start to wonder about the origin," said Steve Early of DNR's fisheries division. "Our concern ratchets up."

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[Virginian]

1. It doesn't sound good for the Bay.

"Two fish, same size, same area. It makes you start to wonder about the origin"

Sure sounds like they hatched and weren't just dumped. Where did the parent fish come from?

[qanda]

2. That's not good!

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