Invasive Species

Snake-head fish (Channa/Parachanna) are the newest Aquatic Invaders to the United States. They are a non-native air-breathing fresh water fish. Snake-head fish are native to Asia and Africa. They started getting national attention in the summer of 2002 and then again in 2004 as being the newest invasive species to threaten native fish and wildlife resources and economic regions that depend on them. Four species of the Snake-heads were found in the United States. They were found in Maryland, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Maine, Florida and California. A few of these states had reproducing populations of the fish.

The Snake-heads were introduced into the United States two different ways. It’s believed that the Snake-head could have been released into the United States waters by hobbyists that kept them in aquariums and released them. The other way these fish were added to the ecosystem was by people releasing them to establish a local food source and live fish food trade before they were added as an injurious wildlife species in October of 2002. These fish now being in Michigan water will adversely affect the ecosystem in many ways. One of these ways being they will compete with the native species for food. Their food source consists of plankton, insect larvae and small crustaceans. When they turn into adults they become voracious predators feeding on other fish, crustaceans, frogs, small reptiles, and sometimes smaller birds. Snake-heads are aggressive predators when it comes to protecting their young also. One very dangerous change that could come with the Snake-heads is they can carry pathogens known as Epizootic Ulcerative Syndrome and can transfer the disease to the native fish. Another way they can threaten Michigan’s ecosystem is the fact that they can use their pectoral fins to move over land to migrate between bodies of water because they can breathe air for extended periods of time. So they can spread without the help of humans which also makes it...