Locals report encounters with terrifying snake-like fish slithering across US: 'They are pretty aggressive'

Normally, seeing abundant fish in waters is good news for anglers and for those who love a good fish fry. But one fish species from overseas is spreading aggressively across the United States and damaging marine ecosystems as it goes. Officials have warned American anglers and nature lovers of all kinds to watch out for the northern snakehead, an invasive species, The New York Times reported.

What's happening?

The northern snakehead is native to Asia but was found in the U.S. in 2002, in a pond in Maryland. Since then, it's been spotted in multiple states, from New York to Missouri. It lives up to its name with a distinctly snakelike and sharp-toothed appearance, with mottled brown markings similar to a boa constrictor. It's similar to a native fish, the bowfin, but unlike a bowfin, it has scales on top of its head and a long anal fin.

Northern snakeheads won't hesitate to bite. "One of the characteristics of this species is it provides a lot of parental care to its young," explained Angela Sokolowski, the invasive species coordinator at the Missouri Department of Conservation, per the Times. "Both the male and the female will guard the very young fish, called fry. They keep them corralled like a herd, and it looks like a ball of baby fish. We call that a fry ball. They are pretty aggressive with anything that approaches that group of young."

These unusual fish can also breathe air, meaning they can live for days out of water and travel over land. (That's one reason they're spreading so fast.) This allows them to hide in muddy, murky, shallow water.

Why is the northern snakehead a problem?

Invasive species are species that travel to new areas and start spreading there. They multiply out of control, outcompeting native species, because they have few or no natural predators to keep them in check. Some species — including the northern snakehead — may even directly eat the native species around them.

By multiplying so rapidly and damaging other species, invasive species throw whole ecosystems out of balance. They can be wildly destructive, causing extinctions. In the case of northern snakeheads, in addition to eating local species of fish, they also go after crustaceans such as crayfish.

Watch now: Giant snails invading New York City?

What's being done about the northern snakehead?

Luckily for all of us, the northern snakehead is edible, so officials are encouraging the public to catch and eat it as much as possible. Just make sure it's dead, since taking it out of the water isn't enough to kill it.

"These fish can live on a cooler of ice for days," said Sokolowski, per the Times, "so we ask anglers to actively kill them so that they don't accidentally think that those fish could be dead and then accidentally get released somewhere else."

Organized efforts to dispatch these fish are also underway, as dam technicians in Maryland removed more than 18,000 pounds of invasive fish and donated them to local food banks.

Should the government be paying people to hunt invasive species?

Definitely 👍