Recently, there is an incident in Henan that has attracted a lot of attention, the county-level city of Ruzhou city below pingding mountain, there is a strange fish appeared in the Yunchan Lake in the central park, which was confirmed to be a crocodile eel, which belongs to the invasive species.
After several unsuccessful round-ups, the local government decided to drain the lake.
Originating from the Americas, the alligator eel is a carnivorous fish that is extremely destructive to ecology and can grow up to 3 meters. Not only does it eat more and grow faster, but it also has very few natural enemies, and as long as it is a living thing in the water, it is almost all-consuming.
Large alligator eel caught in 1910
Even if the lake water is not drained, the crocodile eel remains in the lake, and other live animals such as fish and shrimp will not be eaten for long.
The alligator eel was introduced to China as a pet fish in a fish tank, and this "big monster" can be found in the lake, which can basically be judged as an abandoned "stray pet".
Abandoning pets is not only an irresponsible act, but when these pets are alien species, abandonment is also an immoral or even suspected illegal act.
In addition to the alligator eel, there are several common invasive species of fish, which have a negative impact on our original ecological environment.
whitewing
The infamous scavenger is the last fish every angler wants to see. This fish came from South America and was originally introduced as an ornamental fish, but at first the market response in the pet fish industry was not good, so merchants began to change the direction of marketing, giving it the function of eating the excrement of other ornamental fish, named "scavenger". I have to say that this marketing is very successful.
In fact, scavengers do not eat excrement, but at most eat some algae on the stones, and the feces in the fish tank are not touched.
In China, this fish basically has no natural enemies, its skin is very hard, its flesh is also very rough, as a food, it is also difficult to swallow.
Not only that, but scavengers are also extremely easy to survive, the amount of reproduction is very large, squeezing the living space of native fish, in some waters in Guangdong, the probability of catching scavengers is greater than the probability of catching any other fish.
Tilapia
Tilapia is an edible invasive species of fish, tilapia was introduced to Guangdong from Vietnam in 1957, once it was a must-eat delicacy for everyone on the table of Cantonese people. Whether it's steaming, braised or grilled, there are always various cooking methods to satisfy people's appetites.
But it's still rampant.
Tilapia does not lay many eggs in a single time, but the survival rate of eggs is very high, so it also reproduces very quickly. Mass reproduction in the wild has squeezed and threatened the living space of native fish in the same waters.
Egyptian pond flounder
The Egyptian catfish, also known as the bearded catfish, is a type of catfish. It doesn't sound like a native Chinese fish, but the bearded catfish prefers to discharge domestic sewage in the waters, eating a variety of foods, including feces, which can grow quickly.
Like tilapia, they have a strong reproductive function, the reproduction rate is very fast, and the food is mixed and varied, so it is difficult to see other fish in the environment in which they live.
This fish, which grows up eating carrion and feces, makes many people mouthless and does not taste as delicious as tilapia. That's the main reason why it can flood in China.
Mosquito-eating fish
Mosquito-eating fish, also known as big-bellied fish, was introduced to China in 1935, as the name suggests, mosquito-eating fish, of course, not adult mosquitoes, but mosquito larvae. The name mosquito-eating fish, when you hear it, makes people feel kind, and should be a friend of human beings.
In fact, the mosquito-eating fish does not just eat the widow, its main food is plankton, there are also invertebrates in the water, for mosquito larvae, it is only incidental to eat. According to relevant studies, if mosquito-eating fish simply eat mosquito larvae, it is easy to die.
The introduction of local mosquito-eating fish also brings an impact on the original ecology, due to the natural omnivorous, will eat other species of juvenile fish or fish eggs, in the long run, naturally make the native fish a large number of consumption, while the mosquito-eating fish in the newly arrived waters, a large number of breeding.
In fact, the vast majority of invasive species are passive invasions, by humans to bring them to the original territory that does not belong to them, for themselves, just follow the instinct of biological survival, it just so happens that they can gain a competitive advantage in the new environment, not much fault, the mistake is to bring them into the local ecological chain of humans.
For invasive alien species, in addition to hunting, we should also establish the concept of not bringing in alien species and not abandoning foreign pets in the wild.