A year after an 18-inch invasive fish nicknamed the \u201cFrankenfish\u201d was caught in the Neshaminy Creek in Bensalem, the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC) has released a renewed warning to Bucks County anglers about local presence of the \u201ccreepy\u201d voracious predator capable of breathing air and surviving on land for days.<\/p>\n
The Northern Snakehead fish \u2013 it\u2019s also called a \u201criver monster\u201d and has a torpedo-shaped body and sharp, flesh-tearing teeth \u2013 is established today in southeastern Pennsylvania and has been found in the Delaware Canal, Delaware River, Schuylkill River, and in watersheds like the Neshaminy Creek, according to PFBC. The agency said that because the species can wriggle across land, its spread is a persistent problem.<\/p>\n
The commission urged the public to take immediate action upon catching the fish, like the one caught last July in the creek at Neshaminy Falls low-head dam near Bristol Road in Bensalem Township.<\/p>\n
Because it is illegal to possess a live Northern Snakehead or return it alive to the water, the commission requires fishermen to immediately kill the fish and report the catch to PFBC.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s an aggressive, non-native predator that threatens local aquatic ecosystems by competing with native species,\u201d said PFBC. \u201cThe PFBC mandates that anglers who catch one must kill it immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFrankenfish\u201d have a \u201cprimitive\u201d lung and can survive up to four days on land as long as its skin remains moist, said PFBC, adding the fish can wriggle and slither across land to find new bodies of water.<\/p>\n
The PFBC and other agencies urge anglers to harvest and consume Northern Snakeheads to protect local watersheds and ecosystems. Its taste \u2013 cooking can be done pan frying, grilling or baking \u2014 often is compared to high-quality white fish such as perch.<\/p>\n
The aggressive species is not dangerous to humans because it avoids contact with people, according to PFBC. But native to China, Korea and Russia, Northern Snakeheads are an impact on local ecosystems, according to wildlife officials. They compete with native fish like bass for food and habitat. Female fish cam lay thousands of eggs, helping to spread rapidly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A year after an 18-inch invasive fish nicknamed the \u201cFrankenfish\u201d was caught in the Neshaminy Creek in Bensalem,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":235809,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[191,193,192,194,101644],"class_list":["post-235808","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bensalem","tag-bensalem","tag-bensalem-headlines","tag-bensalem-news","tag-bensalem-township","tag-bucks-county-anglers-warned-to-look-out-for-invasive-northern-snakehead-after-one-was-caught-in-neshaminy-creek"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=235808"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235808\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/235809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=235808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=235808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=235808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}