"It's the baddest bunny in the bush.
July 3, 2002 1:44 PM   Subscribe

"It's the baddest bunny in the bush. It has no known predators in this environment, can grow to 15 pounds, and it can get up and walk. What more do you need?"

For one Maryland community, this has been The Week Of The Snakefish.
posted by LinusMines (34 comments total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
3.....2.....1.....
posted by Ufez Jones at 1:46 PM on July 3, 2002


Technically, it's a snakehead fish, but snakefish made for a creepier headline.
posted by LinusMines at 1:48 PM on July 3, 2002


Wait. Is it a bunny or a fish? I'm confused.
posted by ColdChef at 1:54 PM on July 3, 2002


What more do you need?

Looks like:Watercress, Pork Spareribs, Dates, Tangerine Peel, and Duck Gizzard.

Them's Good Eatin'!
posted by jazon at 1:56 PM on July 3, 2002


It's a fish that destroys all the fish in its pond then... walks to the next pond. I think in threats like these, the biologists should just poison the pond. It's harsh but look what happened in Florida.
posted by geoff. at 2:01 PM on July 3, 2002


Snakeheads began arriving in this country 30 years ago as a delicacy for Asian food markets, Courtenay said. Because they can survive for days out of water, they easily ship and arrive to the markets alive, he said.

State officials suspect the fish in the Crofton pond was bought at an area fish market.


That's one tough fish.
posted by rushmc at 2:04 PM on July 3, 2002


It's harsh but look what happened in Florida
You mean with Disney? Yeah, I'm with you. Pour the poison.
posted by ColdChef at 2:06 PM on July 3, 2002


Hmmf. If only I'd known ...
posted by yhbc at 2:13 PM on July 3, 2002


Walking fish, hah? Big deal.

This, on the other hand is impressive.
posted by jonmc at 2:21 PM on July 3, 2002


I just knew that was coming ...
posted by yhbc at 2:22 PM on July 3, 2002


For some reason, Metallica's The Thing That Should Not Be is now running through my head.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 2:32 PM on July 3, 2002


And let's not leave out the German piranha story.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 2:33 PM on July 3, 2002


bunnyfish?
posted by inpHilltr8r at 2:55 PM on July 3, 2002


yhbc: If only I'd known! :)

Apart from the whole "FrankenFish" angle the press has been taking, Maryland is skittish about non-native plant and aquatic life unbalancing its ecosystem.

To the northern snakehead, parts of the state would be like an environmental all-you-can-eat buffet. And I understand this fish has teeth like a piranha.
posted by LinusMines at 2:55 PM on July 3, 2002


LinusMines - no harm, no foul. But thanks for the mench. :) It is a wild story, and another great example of how non-native species can really screw things up when they get introduced in other places.
posted by yhbc at 2:59 PM on July 3, 2002


Snakehead fish? That's an odd name. I'd have called them "chazzwazzers".
posted by Samsonov14 at 3:10 PM on July 3, 2002


They're kept as exotics in many aquariums. The general consensus is that you don't put one in a tank with any fish even the slightest bit smaller than it, or it will eat them. They also jump, and some aquarium owners have come home to find a two-foot fish missing from their aquarium... later discovered under a dresser or somewhere else across the room.
posted by whatnotever at 3:38 PM on July 3, 2002


i live in maryland and i'm less worried about the fish and more about this GOD DAMNED heat. it's 6:37pm and 101 degrees. it reached 107 at BWI airport today. what's up w/this weather?

it's a good thing i'm an air conditioning junkie(who reference) and never leave the house.
posted by suprfli at 3:39 PM on July 3, 2002


I was really looking forward to a bad bunny story. Fish learning to walk has been done to death by those evolutionist guys.
posted by srboisvert at 3:39 PM on July 3, 2002


I read about this fish last week on yhbc's weblog and I'm still thinking about it. The part about it being found in a pond behind a shopping center is so creepy and B-movie.
posted by iconomy at 3:51 PM on July 3, 2002


I for one hail our new snakeheadfish overlords.
posted by Ty Webb at 4:06 PM on July 3, 2002


I also read this on yhbc's blog. YHBC BROKE IT FIRST!

yhbc, you're taking this whole thing very calmly, even jonmc's link--again. I'm impressed.
posted by ashbury at 4:22 PM on July 3, 2002


DEATH AWAITS YOU ALL
posted by delapohl at 4:30 PM on July 3, 2002


Great link delapohl. Now go and change your armor.
posted by Ty Webb at 4:39 PM on July 3, 2002


that mango treatment sounds delicous!

i had a baby pacu once, it got to about 16 inches before i had to give it away to a local pet store (i thought about eating it).

now i have a couple blood parrot cichlids, (a hybrid) and they are great aquarium fish, although others don't seem to agree.
posted by priyanga at 4:41 PM on July 3, 2002


Will we humans be forced to toil in their underground salt-water mines?

Frankly, it doesn't look like a very imposing fish. The description is much more (ahem) "frightening" than the picture.
posted by davidmsc at 5:53 PM on July 3, 2002


Tisk tisk, that's what people said about Yoda, davidmsc.
posted by gsteff at 5:56 PM on July 3, 2002


Coolest. Fish. Ever.
posted by DyRE at 9:15 PM on July 3, 2002


They covered this in the Ottawa Citizen, last week. They referred to them as Chinese Walking Fish. I think they've been spotted around here, too...

In the follow-up to the story, I and all my friends have started coming up with elaborate horror stories about the piscene monsters. Chinese Walking Fish haunt my nightmares. According to the article in the Citizen, the recipe for terror is as follows:
  • has the head of a snake;

  • has teeth like a piranha;

  • grows to three feet long;

  • can survive out of water for four days;

  • can fuckin' walk around;

  • What this implies, of course, is that hissing, piranha-toothed snake creatures can hunt you in packs while speeding along in freakish Voldo fashion.

    I'm telling you...
    Chinese Walking Fish are the new anthrax.
    posted by Marquis at 6:23 AM on July 4, 2002


    We can relax, it may have been caught. But "The bad news is that it was 26 inches (66 centimeters) long; the fish caught in mid-May that alerted wildlife officers to the possibility of an invasion by an alien species was only 20 inches (51 centimeters) long. "Either the fish grew six inches in a few weeks or we have more than one in the pond," said Bob Lunsford, a biologist with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources."
    posted by biscotti at 7:07 AM on July 4, 2002


    Send in Spider-Goat.
    posted by Frasermoo at 7:38 AM on July 4, 2002


    Send in Thing Fish.
    posted by KevinSkomsvold at 12:47 PM on July 4, 2002


    Hmmm...if it did, indeed, grow six inches in one week, then it must have responded to the spam-mail promising such results.
    posted by davidmsc at 1:03 PM on July 4, 2002


    Well, I hope you Maryland snakeheads don't have any ideas about moving to Miami. We have a zero tolerance policy toward you little fellers:

    "Chung Hing Oriental Market, NW 167th St., Miami, and P. K. Oriental Market, Pines Blvd., Pembroke Pines were both charged with possession of a prohibited freshwater fish. All species of snakeheads are illegal to possess live in the state of Florida. Possession of live snakeheads is a second degree misdemeanor punishable by up to a $500 fine and/or 60 days in jail."

    Nothing personal, it's just that the albino walking catfish were here first.
    posted by groundhog at 8:24 PM on July 4, 2002


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