PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

CSI-type study identifies snakehead

2013-11-26
(Press-News.org) Contact information: Carol Thorbes
cthorbes@sfu.ca
778-782-3035
Simon Fraser University
CSI-type study identifies snakehead Several Canadian biologists, including two at Simon Fraser University, are breathing a collective sigh of relief after learning that a monstrous fish found in a Burnaby, B.C. pond is not a northern snakehead.

But they say their discovery that the half-metre-long, 3.7-kg snakehead fished out of Burnaby Central Park's lagoon last December was a blotched snakehead, or a blotched/northern hybrid is still a serious concern.

Their findings are in a new study, published online by the Management of Biological Invasions Journal. The authors—SFU, UBC, University of Guelph and B.C. Ministry of Environment scientists—call for greater awareness of the risks of invasion that non-native species, such as snakeheads, pose in our waters.

There are 29 species of the Asian aquatic beast with home ranges in Southeast Asia, Russia and Africa. They are native to subtropical and warm waters. But due to aquaculture rearing and sale of the snakes as pets and medicine, various species have become established in the freshwaters of Hawaii, Florida and the eastern United States.

Last December, a YouTube video of a sighting of what was then feared to be a northern snakehead in a Burnaby pond made international news. It was the first sighting—and eventual capture by SFU and B.C. government scientists for analysis—of a snakehead in freshwater north of the 49th parallel.

In response to this capture, the B.C.'s environment ministry strengthened legislation so that it banned possession, transport and breeding of all snakeheads, as well as several other potential invasive fish and mussels.

Snakeheads flourish in a variety of environmental conditions, the northern variety in particular adapts to cooler climates. A lung allows them to breathe and move short distances on land for a few days, if they're in a wet environment that keeps them well hydrated.

These factors combined with the pointy-toothed fish's voracious appetite for a variety of prey, including large invertebrates, frogs and fish mean its invasion is having broad ecological effects.

In their study the authors note, in eastern United States' Potomac River "…fisheries managers predict that continued uncontrolled range expansion of the northern snakehead population could lead to up to a 35 % population reduction of a valuable largemouth bass…"

"The prospect of a snakehead population becoming established in B.C. waters is a very scary thought," says David Scott, this study's lead author. He is also an SFU School of Resource and Environmental Management (REM) master's student.

"For example, if a pair of northern snakeheads had been released into the pond, the two could have reproduced and spread relatively quickly. The pond is located within the Fraser River watershed; thus it could have led to further spread with negative consequences for one of the most productive salmon producing rivers in North America."

The authors worry that, as is happening elsewhere, the B.C. government's amendment to the Wildlife Act to ban possession, transport and breeding of all snakeheads following the Burnaby find won't completely prevent another invasion.

"There is still the threat of snakehead introduction via illegal possession and trade," says Jonathan Moore, the other SFU author. The assistant biology/REM professor and Liber Ero Chair of Coastal Science and Management is also Scott's master's thesis supervisor.

"Snakehead introductions have continued in the U.S., even though possession has been illegal for more than a decade. Given this threat, continued monitoring, public education and rapid response planning are warranted. The public must be made aware of the serious negative ecological and economic consequences associated with the release of any non-native species of fish."

###

Backgrounder: CSI-type study identifies snakehead

Quotes from David Scott, study lead author, SFU master's student in REM, Faculty of Environment.

The study's authors stress it is significant that the Burnaby-caught snakehead has been confirmed to be a blotched rather than a northern variety. "Fisheries and Oceans Canada considers the northern variety to be a threat for invading Canadian waters because in its native range it typically tolerates cold conditions. Blotched snakeheads have not previously been considered a threat as they typically do not live in cold water, although they haven't been studied as much."

The study's authors discovered the Burnaby-caught snakehead had been in a local pond for 33 to 93 days by chemically comparing its internal tissues with those of frozen blotched snakeheads that they'd bought in Vancouver. The study proved the snakehead wasn't born in the pond and wasn't part of a naturally reproducing population.

They weren't able to determine the sex or the specific diet of the adult invader while in its new home but they did confirm it had dined in the pond. The water's other non-native inhabitants—small carp, goldfish, fathead minnows, brown catfish and crayfish—became supper.

The authors saw no evidence of snakehead eggs in the pond. They weren't able to determine their captive's age but say, "There was only one snakehead, and it was only in the pond for a short while, with no apparent potential mates."

Snakeheads are valued as aquarium pets and command a high price in food markets in the Far East. "Due to the unique traits they possess such as the ability to withstand days out of water if kept moist and their general hardiness, people have come to believe they are endowed with special invigorating and healing properties. Their flesh is claimed to be rejuvenating particularly during illness or following birth or surgery. People believe that to acquire these benefits the fish has to be killed just before cooking."

Simon Fraser University is consistently ranked among Canada's top comprehensive universities and is one of the top 50 universities in the world under 50 years old. With campuses in Vancouver, Burnaby and Surrey, B.C., SFU engages actively with the community in its research and teaching, delivers almost 150 programs to more than 30,000 students, and has more than 120,000 alumni in 130 countries.

Simon Fraser University: Engaging Students. Engaging Research. Engaging Communities.

Contact: David Scott, 604.817.6700 (cell), dcscott@sfu.ca
Jonathan Moore, 778.782.9246, jwmoore@sfu.ca
Carol Thorbes, PAMR, 778.782.3035, cthorbes@sfu.ca

Photos: http://at.sfu.ca/bbYiOJ

END



ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Sounding rocket to peek at atmosphere of Venus

2013-11-26
Sounding rocket to peek at atmosphere of Venus A week after launching a new orbiter to investigate the upper atmosphere of Mars, NASA is sending a sounding rocket to probe the atmosphere of Venus. The Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution, ...

Study: Arctic seafloor methane releases double previous estimates

2013-11-26
Study: Arctic seafloor methane releases double previous estimates Storm activity hastens release of greenhouse gas into the atmosphere The seafloor off the coast of Northern Siberia is releasing more than twice the amount of methane as previously ...

Risk of HIV treatment failure present even in those with low viral load

2013-11-26
Risk of HIV treatment failure present even in those with low viral load Study proposes new benchmarks for clinical treatment of HIV People with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) run a higher risk of virologic failure than previously thought, even ...

MR spectroscopy shows differences in brains of preterm infants

2013-11-26
MR spectroscopy shows differences in brains of preterm infants CHICAGO – Premature birth appears to trigger developmental processes in the white matter of the brain that could put children at higher risk of problems later in life, according to a study ...

New tool developed for profiling critical regulatory structures of RNA molecules

2013-11-25
New tool developed for profiling critical regulatory structures of RNA molecules A molecular technique that will help the scientific community to analyze -- on a scale previously impossible -- molecules that play a critical role in regulating gene expression has been ...

Your first hug: How the early embryo changes shape

2013-11-25
Your first hug: How the early embryo changes shape In research published today in Nature Cell Biology, scientists from the EMBL Australia research team based at Monash University's Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute (ARMI) have revealed new ...

Pill-popping galaxy hooked on gas

2013-11-25
Pill-popping galaxy hooked on gas Our Galaxy may have been swallowing "pills" — clouds of gas with a magnetic wrapper — to keep making stars for the past eight billion years. That's the conclusion of CSIRO astronomer Dr Alex Hill, lead author of a study of the Smith Cloud, ...

Black hole jets pack a powerful punch

2013-11-25
Black hole jets pack a powerful punch High-speed 'jets' spat out by black holes pack a lot of power because they contain heavy atoms, astronomers have found. Black-hole jets recycle matter and energy into space and can affect when and where a galaxy forms stars. "Jets ...

The mushrooms, my friend, are blowing in the wind...

2013-11-25
The mushrooms, my friend, are blowing in the wind... Research at the APS Division of Fluid Dynamics Meeting in Pittsburgh shows how the mushroom spews its spores WASHINGTON D.C. Nov. 25, 2013 -- Plants use a variety of methods to spread their seeds, including ...

JCI early table of contents for Nov. 25, 2013

2013-11-25
JCI early table of contents for Nov. 25, 2013 Predicting nasopharyngeal carcinoma patient response to radiation therapy Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) affects cells lining the nasopharynx. The majority of NPC cases can be cured by radiation therapy, ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Printed skin to replace animal testing

Precision medicine could be possible in the fight against antibiotic resistance

Researchers at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University identify new targeted approach to protect neurons against degeneration

Western diet causes inflammation, traditional African food protects

Electrochemical method supports nitrogen circular economy

How researchers are shining a light on kidney disease

Some gut bacteria could make certain drugs less effective

PEPITEM sequence shows effects in psoriasis, comparable to steroid cream

Older teens who start vaping post-high school risk rapid progress to frequent use

Corpse flowers are threatened by spotty recordkeeping

Riding the AI wave toward rapid, precise ocean simulations

Are lifetimes of big appliances really shrinking?

Pink skies

Monkeys are world’s best yodellers - new research

Key differences between visual- and memory-led Alzheimer’s discovered

% weight loss targets in obesity management – is this the wrong objective?

An app can change how you see yourself at work

NYC speed cameras take six months to change driver behavior, effects vary by neighborhood, new study reveals

New research shows that propaganda is on the rise in China

Even the richest Americans face shorter lifespans than their European counterparts, study finds

Novel genes linked to rare childhood diarrhea

New computer model reveals how Bronze Age Scandinavians could have crossed the sea

Novel point-of-care technology delivers accurate HIV results in minutes

Researchers reveal key brain differences to explain why Ritalin helps improve focus in some more than others

Study finds nearly five-fold increase in hospitalizations for common cause of stroke

Study reveals how alcohol abuse damages cognition

Medicinal cannabis is linked to long-term benefits in health-related quality of life

Microplastics detected in cat placentas and fetuses during early pregnancy

Ancient amphibians as big as alligators died in mass mortality event in Triassic Wyoming

Scientists uncover the first clear evidence of air sacs in the fossilized bones of alvarezsaurian dinosaurs: the "hollow bones" which help modern day birds to fly

[Press-News.org] CSI-type study identifies snakehead