But as the sun rose higher, a conservationist arrived to take advantage of
the convergence of media around the pond to publicize his agenda: the
massive destruction of native species by alien ones, including the
snakeheads, which were dumped there innocently by a man who had bought them
in New York to make soup. But the potential for ecological disaster is
inestimable, some said.
"The worst-case scenario is the snakehead gets out and spreads across the
Chesapeake Bay to the Atlantic Coast and the rest of the country. It could
create a wave of extinctions that would be irreversible and devastating,"
said Bob Bock, a past president of the North American Native Fishes
Association, which has about 12 members in the area and 450 nationwide.
For full story, see:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A33772-2002Aug18.html
It was a busy day for Bob. Later that day he led a NANFA collecting trip to
Paint Branch Creek in College Park, Maryland. Stephanie and myself, Ed
Bielaus of Bethesda and his wife Lillian, and Harry Knaub of York, PA,
attended. The water was low because of the drought, and so the fish were
concentrated and easy to net. The snorkeling was great. Stephanie watched
two snapping turtles get it on....sorta. (They were 69ing it.) And we both
enjoyed feeding huge shoals of satinfin shiner by running our fingers
through the substrate and stirring up a thin cloud of debris. 20 species
were seen/sampled:
American eel
gizzard shad
satinfin shiner
spotfin shiner
common shiner
spottail shiner
swallowtail shiner
blacknose dace
longnose dace
creek chub
white sucker
northern hogsucker
banded killifish
mosquitofish
redbreast sunfish
green sunfish
pumpkinseed
bluegill
smallmouth bass
tessellated darter
Chris Scharpf
Baltimore
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