Once, when I was visiting the Birdfish and Bug Market, I saw a fish with a "short snout", which was not large and long, and the store called it a "rocket fish".
Want to ask the price, the store bluntly said not to sell, my curiosity was instantly aroused, go home to check, this fish is still an ancient creature, survived on the earth for more than 100 million years, named "crocodile eel", and its power, far more than living for a long time so simple.
"Alligator gar", listening to the name, you know that it has something to do with crocodiles, and its English name alligator gar in the alligator also refers to the alligator. The name is not because they are related to each other, but because of the mouth, teeth and hunting methods of the crocodile eel.
Crocodile eels have deep mouths, so their mouths are long, with crocodile-like fangs in their flat mouths.
With this superiority, they do not need to chase the prey hard, as long as they make an ambush in advance, and then look at the timing to strike quickly, in an instant, they can use the sharp teeth of the upper and lower jaws to fix the prey, and the bite speed is so fast that the prey can not react too late, and it directly suffers a fatal blow, and the rest is swallowed by the crocodile eel.
In addition to being good at attacking, alligator eels are also quite good defensively, with hard scales all over the body, covering their bodies up to 2 meters long like armor, forming a natural protection.
It can be said that as a carnivore, the alligator eel belongs to the predator who can attack and defend the advantage, but also pays attention to strategy, so it has become a "hegemon in the water".
From the crocodile eel itself, its survival skills are absolutely excellent.
But from another point of view, the fish that coexist with it suffer, especially for fishermen, the crocodile eel is a "scourge", its existence will make people fishless, so it has not been welcomed.
In the southern part of North America, where the crocodile eel originates, it has long been regarded as a pest animal and hunted, and even planned to exterminate it, until the 1980s, with the deepening of ecological research, people realized the role of the crocodile eel in the ecosystem of the place and began to protect it.
In 2016, in Tennessee and Illinois, in order to control the population of the invasive species Of Asian carp, the alligator eel was also actively introduced, hoping to rely on its predatory ability to control the rapid reproduction of Asian carp populations.
That is to say, it took decades for the alligator eel to gradually turn its image of "evil" to "good", from "alligator eel" to "evil but good".
In areas where the alligator eel is an invasive species, people are even more disgusted with the alligator eel, as mentioned above, the alligator eel is a carnivore, fish, birds, amphibians, small mammals will become their food.
And the crocodile eel has low requirements for the living environment, in lakes, bays, swamps can survive, so once into a body of water, ferocious they will attack, prey on other fish, serious may cause the extinction of some native species, whether it is fishermen, or the protection department on the water suddenly appear crocodile eel are highly vigilant.
As for why the crocodile eel is introduced to China, the main reason is that many people raise it as an ornamental fish, but it should be known that the adult crocodile eel can reach a length of nearly 2 meters and the weight can grow to 140 pounds, so with the increase in the size of the crocodile eel, they will inevitably be abandoned, released, and then harmed.
Some people may say that since the alligator eel is an invasive species in China, is it time to rely on foodies to solve the problem? However, crocodile eels are really not something that can be eaten if you want to eat them, and if you want to eat crocodile eels, you must be prepared to die.
First of all, the organs are toxic. Although in the origin of the alligator eel, the treated fish meat is occasionally made into fillets, fish and other foods, but it needs to be properly handled so that the toxins contained in its organs do not threaten human life.
Second, the eggs are poisonous. Every year from May to August is the breeding season of alligator gar, female alligator gar can lay 150,000 to 200,000 eggs at a time, these eggs are highly toxic, and the crocodile eel during the spawning period, the toxins contained in the organs will also be aggravated, if eaten, the consequences are unimaginable, and even direct death.
All in all, for alligator eels that belong to invasive alien species in China, it is the best choice not to buy, eat and release.