Let them eat...snakehead

I was still living in Washington, D.C., when I first heard of the northern snakehead fish (images above). One was discovered in Maryland's Crofton Pond, which was quickly drained for fear that the invasive predator (watch another video here, caution: language) had reproduced. "A second fear, based on the fish's ability to breathe out of water and travel across land, is that the snakehead could leave the pond and travel the 75' (23m) or so to the Little Patuxent River, and from there invade the state's river system," writes Hillary Mayell on the National Geographic site. "Yup, these nasty suckers can breath atmospheric air and can live outside of water for up to four days, using their fins to primitively crawl on the ground to find other bodies of water," confirms In the Capital. Sad to say that the snakehead did make it to the Patuxent and from there to the Potomac River, where it has fluorished (see record-breaking catch here) to the detriment of native populations of shad and bass. The answer to the proliferation of the "frankenfish" is to fight them with a fork, and according to David Stein, the executive chef at Tony & Joe's Seafood Place in Washington, they are ideal for anything from grilling to sauteing; have minimal shrinkage; and have a dense, meaty, white flesh with a mild taste. Turnabout, as they say, is fair play, and humans can be just as voracious...

Hi Steve!

__________

Invaders:

Cooking the encroachers

Washed up

Hazards of remote exploration

Proliferating pythons

Weedrobes

Hogs and helicopters

Snails