Talk:Northern snakehead

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is part of WikiProject Fishes, an attempt to organise a detailed guide to all Fish taxa and related topics on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, you can edit the article attached to this page, or visit the Portal, where you can join the project and/or contribute to the discussion. This project is an offshoot of the WikiProject Tree of Life

[edit] Invasive species

I have restored information about Channa argus as an invasive species, omitting a sentence that described its impact as "decimating". There are several sources which assert that the snakehead is a threat to native populations:

Introduction of a small number of snakeheads (for example, less than five) into isolated spring habitats could result in extinction of endemic spring-adapted fishes or crustaceans. Introductions of fishes considered to be far less aggressive than snakeheads (that is, guppies, Poecilia reticulata) in such habitats have had major negative impacts (Courtenay and others, 1985). Snakeheads would not have to establish a reproducing population to reduce or eliminate a fish or crustacean species confined to a small section of a stream or isolated spring habitat. A small number of snakeheads introduced, but not established, in a stream or lake would likely have less of an impact. Nevertheless, any snakehead that becomes established in a water body would represent a significant threat and could potentially put any listed amphibian, fish, or crustacean at risk of local extinction.

The above passage is from a USGS publication. Additionally, the "risk potential" table at the bottom of the page assigns the highest risk to every assessment of Channa argus, labeling it an "unacceptable risk" and "organism of major concern". Due to the hardiness of this fish (see temperature tolerances from FishBase) and other factors, the northern snakehead is a highly invasive species. Isopropyl 23:08, 23 March 2006 (UTC)