On another exotics note...
It was interesting over the weekend, as the family my sister married into are
all from Florida. At the reception it was pretty much noted that I was "that
fish guy" and so many people had questions about the snakeheads. It provided
a way to talk to many different people about invasive exotics, and also
downplay the monster image the snakehead has received from the media. I
steered them more toward why they are monsters concerning diversity instead of
'they have nasty teeth that go like this!' and their lack of potential
predators which would enable them to have population explosions.
Of course in the middle of my de-demonification triste to a rather large group
of folks interested in the topic, the mother of the groom (from Ft.
Lauderdale) jumps in and says:
"Snakeheads!? What they say is the truth! I pulled into work two weeks ago
and there was one kinda flipping across the parking lot! I guess it came from
the reflecting pond!"
<sigh>
"Did you back over it?" wasn't received all that well heh. However I was
able to play it off like "I was just joking <sorta>!!!" and then we discussed
a little more about Florida's blight of exotic critters across the board and
why the snakeheads in Maryland were of such great concern when there were
already species established in the south.
What a topic for a wedding heh.
Todd
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