Northern Snakehead

Channa argus

The Northern Snakehead is a fish that is originally found in China, Russia, North Korea, and South Korea. However, in the past decade or so they have also made their way over to the United States and Canada, where they are considered to be an invasive
species.

You can identify a Northern Snakehead by its large mouth, very long dorsal fin, and a rounded tail fin. They come in shades of brown, with both lighter and darker blotches.

Northern Snakeheads are excellent hunters, with no natural predators of their own. Which is why their introduction to non-native areas has been so damaging. They disrupt the normal food chain and threaten the livelihood of other species. In North America, the fish have been both intentionally and unintentionally introduced, and have been found from Florida all the way to British Columbia.

One reason they are so hard to contain is the fact that they can breathe air, and can survive out of water for long stretches of time. This means that they have the ability to move between nearby bodies of water by wiggling their bodies.

IUCN Status : Not Listed
Location : East Asia
Size : Length up to 40in (1m)

Classification : Phylum : Chordata -- Class : Actinopterygii -- Order : Perciformes
Family : Channidae -- Genus : Channa -- Species : C. argus
Image : Cornell

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