Re: NANFA-- snakeheads

Moontanman_at_aol.com
Tue, 16 Jul 2002 14:30:14 EDT

I guess I have to ask, isn't the viscousness of these fish mostly hype? I
mean you would think that great white sharks spend time worrying about
meeting up with a snake head. Aren't they pretty much like a bowfin? It seems
unlikely that snakeheads are the meanest fish on the planet, I'm sure
alligator gars might be a contender for the crown. While I wouldn't want
snakeheads to escape into the ecosystem of Maryland I am sure there are fish
that would and could eat a snakehead. It seems to me like maybe we need to
regroup and tell it like it is instead of trying to terrify everyone about
this fish. Eventually crying wolf might result in all tropical fish being
illegal regardless of their true nature. (When I say we I don't mean NANFA
but aquarium hobbyists in general) I know it cool to be able to tell your
date that if she (or he) would come home with you, you would show her (or
him) the most dangerous fish on earth. But at some point you risk getting
people involved in making laws that affect your own choices in life who don't
have a clue as to what is really going on. Hmmmm how is this different from
what is happening already? :^) Nonetheless doesn't it make better sense to
down play the man eating angle and go for the disease/ecosystem route? I mean
there are many reasons not to release nonnative fish other than they might
eat you. With that attitude many people will still justify releasing their
tetra's because "they are such harmless little creatures" and there are a lot
more tetras than snakeheads. Statistically many releases of the "harmless
tetras" have a better chance of introducing a disease than a couple of
snakehead releases. Hype and misinformation has resulted in lots of dead but
harmless species of sharks. I remember after the movie "Jaws" watching people
kill baby sharks they caught on the fishing pier to impress the people who
were walking by. The public stance of NANFA should be free of such
exaggeration tactics.

Moon
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