On August 23, Henan Pingdingshan drained Yunchan Lake just to find the strange fish crocodile eel to control, so what kind of fish is this? If left unchecked, how harmful is it?
Native to North America, the alligator eel lives mainly in tropical and subtropical waters. It is found along the Gulf Coast from Mexico to Florida, and in recent years, native Americans have even found crocodile eels in the Great Lakes Basin, and this species is found in the Missouri River and the lower Ohio River.
Therefore, in recent years, the appearance of crocodile eels in many parts of the continent has shown us a signal that the alien species of alligator eels has begun to invade the mainland waters.
Crocodile eels are very different from other fish in the freshwater basins of the mainland, and our common freshwater fish grow very non-threatening. However, crocodile eels look very different, although they have a body similar to that of a fish, with scales attached to their bodies and limbs that have degenerated into fins.
But their mouths are particularly prominent, the upper and lower jaws are very long, and the opening and closing angle is also very large, and the inside is also covered with sharp teeth, which at first glance looks a bit similar to crocodiles, but in terms of biological species, they are still very different from crocodiles.
But one thing is very similar to crocodiles, that is, the alligator gar is also a ferocious carnivorous fish, and it is extremely aggressive. An adult alligator gar can grow to nearly 2 meters long and weigh 45-72 kg. It is almost a "giant beast" among freshwater fish.
As a carnivorous fish, the main food of the alligator eel is living creatures in the water, which means that this fish eats almost everything and is very picky. However, although it has a long upper and lower jaws, it does not have enough bite force, so they can only swallow fish directly, and they can swallow prey that is one-third the size of their body.
Recently, Henan Pingdingshan drained a whole lake just to find the crocodile eel lurking in the water, in this dry and rainy season, is it really worth it to pay such a price to catch this fish?
In order to catch a crocodile eel that sneaks into the lake, Pingdingshan in Henan Province will not hesitate to drain hundreds of thousands of cubic meters of lakes. This practice is not only necessary for people, but also very necessary.
Because the crocodile eel is too harmful to the fish in the freshwater lake, an adult crocodile gar is about 1.2 to 1.8 meters in size, and as a carnivorous fish, they almost eat what they catch in the water, as long as they can swallow it, they will never be picky.
Most of the native fish in continental freshwater lakes are relatively small, and most of them are herbivorous or omnivorous fish, such as grass carp, crucian carp and carp, and as the most common freshwater fish, these fish are also easily preyed upon by crocodile eels.
If the alligator eel in the water is not regulated, then after a period of time, the ecological environment in the water will be seriously damaged. In severe cases, all the fish in the original waters will be eaten dry and wiped clean by the crocodile eels, and Yunchan Lake will become a stagnant water.
And it is not enough to rectify these adult alligator eels, but also to deal with their eggs, alligator eel eggs contain a certain degree of toxicity, if the fish in the water accidentally eat the eggs of the crocodile eel, it is also likely to lead to the death of fish in large areas, which is also a great threat to the native environment of the waters.
In addition, crocodile eels for humans also have a considerable danger, although their jaw bite force is not large, but their sharp teeth are easy to bite people, recently in a small area of Taizhou there was a crocodile eel bite the boy three fingers incident.
So whether it's from the ecological point of view, or from our safety point of view, the presence of this creature in the continental waters is a great threat, and it is indeed necessary to drain a whole lake to find it.
Recently, the crocodile eel has been discovered in Pingdingshan and Taizhou, which shows that the alligator eel, as an invasive alien species, has now quietly dived into the major waters of the mainland. So what measures should we take to deal with this invasive species?
The invasive alien species of alligator eel is a great threat to other organisms in the freshwater lakes of the mainland, so now many places in the mainland will take measures as soon as they find this fish, and this time In Pingdingshan, Henan Province, a whole lake is drained to catch crocodile eels.
In addition to such a laborious method, we can actually use the trap method to catch him, because the crocodile eel is a carnivorous fish, so it is a good idea to catch the crocodile eel with some animal meat pieces as bait.
But these are a way to cure the symptoms but not the root causes, and inhibiting the activity of the crocodile eel has become the main means of reducing the number of alligator eels in the future, and the alligator eel, as a carnivorous fish, must be treated with other carnivorous fish.
Of course, the use of Crocodile crocodile to control crocodile eel has not yet been officially implemented, but in theory, the quality of all aspects of The Yangtze crocodile is higher than that of crocodile eel, so it is not impossible to use Yangtze crocodile in the future treatment of crocodile eel.
In addition, we can also make a fuss about their eggs, which are spawned and mated from May to August every year, and each time the female lays more than 100,000 eggs, which are pale green and sticky, and generally attach to aquatic weeds and gravel, so these eggs can be cleaned during this period to solve the source of the alligator eel from the source.
Of course, as an alien species, we must not take it lightly because it has not yet caused much impression, and believe that as long as the relevant control is in place, the crocodile eel will certainly not be able to make waves in mainland waters.