Yeah, you might not want this crawling out of a lake towards you (Picture: Missouri Department of Conservation)
An invasive, air-breathing fish with the head of a snake has been spotted slithering around Missouri.
Northern snakeheads go by many names: ‘Frankenfish’, ‘Creature from the Black Lagoon’ and ‘something from a bad horror movie’.
And for good reason. Among their almost mutant abilities, snakeheads can live for days on dry land, thrive in filthy water and are razor-toothed alpha hunters that can casually destroy ecosystems.
One angler discovered this the hard way after reeling in a slimy snakehead on May 25.
Missouri wildlife officials said the angler tugged in the python-patterned predator and realised something wasn’t quite right with their catch.
They ‘researched the fish’s characteristics, and realised it was indeed a snakehead,’ said Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) fisheries biologist Dave Knuth.
Northern snakeheads have been wiggling their way into the US for some two decades (Picture: Getty Images)
‘The angler left it on the pavement for several hours thinking it would die,’ he added.
‘And it never did.’
Officials bagged the fish, transporting it between several departments before it ended up in the hands of conservation agent Jacob Plunkett.
Despite spending hours in the bag – and hours before on the pavement – the snakehead was ‘very much alive’, he said.
The three-foot-long snakehead is indigenous to China, Russia and Korea but has been popping up in freshwater lakes, ponds and rivers across the US since the early 2000s.
This is the fourth time a snakehead has been caught in Missouri, with the first specimen being pulled out of the water in 2019. Two more were caught last year.
The warning to fishers from the MDC was clear: If you catch this fish, do not release it.
They’ll eat anything they can fit into their mouth (Picture: Getty Images)
‘Kill the fish by severing the head, gutting it, or placing it in a sealed plastic bag,’ the department stresses.
Missouri officials believe the snakeheads are swimming – and slithering – in from Arkansas, where the aggressive species has been wreaking havoc since 2008.
Most fish can’t spend more than a few moments out of the water.
But not northern snakeheads. As Missouri conservation officials note, if their skin is ‘moist’ they can last several days outside, adding that ‘they can also slither across land to return to water’.
These fish are pretty voracious, to say the least. Their jaw stretches back well beyond their eyes, and anything that can fit inside them – which includes birds and mammals – is on the menu.
Some politicians, however, want more snakeheads to be on restaurant menus.
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In Maryland, state lawmakers have been thinking up a new more ‘appetising’ name for snakeheads to encourage more people to eat them.
Snakeheads are prized for their sweet meat in China and are believed to have healing properties. Though, as WYPR reported, snakeheads don’t quite have this reputation in the US.
‘I don’t think anyone here will go to a restaurant and raise their hand and say “I want snakefish please!”,’ Delegate Todd Morgan said at a January hearing.
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