Snakeheads, other invaders cost billions

Snakeheads, other invaders cost billions

By Kathleen Koch

Source: cnn

9/24/2002

It was billed as a menacing monster from faraway China. Two northern snakeheads were tossed by their owner into a Maryland pond, where they reproduced with abandon.

The problem is the air-breathing, land-walking predators also ate with abandon, endangering native fish when they invaded nearby waterways.

"The snakehead has the potential to preside over mass extinctions throughout the East Coast if it gets out from this pond," said Bob Bock of the North American Native Fishes Association, soon after the fish was detected.