Giant Snakeheads anyone??

I just watched a show about fisherman in Southeast Asia (Thailand I think) One chap got killed by a giant snakehead.
He was spearfishing for giant snakeheads when one of these fish charged him. He must have disturbed the fish while it was watching after its fry, which causes them to go on the offensive.
He shot the charging snakhead straight through the throat, sending a spear right down the four-foot long fish’s body. This agitated the fish even more, making it charge right for his face. The fish hit him with such force that it sent the back end of the spear straight through the man's head. By the time his wife was able to pull him form the water, he was already dead.

According to the documentary:
" Snakeheads are said to breathe air and crawl on land & Snakehead fish have been found in U.S. waters in several states, released by aquarists ( who can no longer handle the sheer size and violent temperament) and freed from food markets. Many states now ban the importation of live snakeheads, however, illegal snakehead-activities have been recorded in most of these states and snakeheads are readily available over the internet"

What is this? Looks like a cross between a snake/fish/shark/eel.

Guy on the docu slit open a Giant snakehead's stomach and OMG....whole gouramis and literaly schools and schools of little fish were in there, swallowed whole and fully in tact. YUCK

Funny things is, the fry are cute. But adults can weigh more than a 5 yrold child! Think I'll leave these to the experts!

 

WOW!! I quickly did a little research and these fish are quite lethal. Any fish that grows to the size of a 5 year old child and can walk on land is probably not a good thing!!
In California it is illegal to own African Clawed Frogs because of the havoc they can and have wreaked on the environment, I imagine this is now the case with this large fish. It is a good reminder for all of us never to release our fish and animals into the environment.
Great discussion thread!!

 

and its sad to say it sold here on LFS for only a dollar or less ...

 

In California it is illegal to own African Clawed Frogs because of the havoc they can and have wreaked on the environment, I imagine this is now the case with this large fish. It is a good reminder for all of us never to release our fish and animals into the environment.

its just like the common pleco some stupid owner decided he didn't like the fish and throw it the river. and to make the story short it multiplied massively it wipe out the local fish ....

 

When fishing, if you catch one you are to report it to fish and game IMMEDIATELY. They come out and shock the lake, killing everything in it. Also, they shock all the surrounding lakes. They do breath air and they can travel across land. It is one nasty fish.

 

We've talked about these things more than a few times around here. New England has already seen a pretty severe infestation. They had to chemically sterilize several bodies of water just to make sure they didn't spread to a major river.

 

In Indiana we're worried about getting snakeheads also. Plus now we have to worry about Asian carp also.

 

Those asian carp are RIDICULOUS.

 

Lovely... I don't think we have to worry about them gaining a foothold here, though, our weather is too cold... I hope.

 

That is one angry-looking fish!

 

Lovely... I don't think we have to worry about them gaining a foothold here, though, our weather is too cold... I hope.

They're incredibly resilient fish.
But if nobody releases a pair into the wild, we'll never even have to find out.