Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Current Event #4: Frankenfish


   A fisherman fishing on the edge of the Occoquan, part of the Potomac River caught a gigantic snakehead fish. He weighed the fish and it came in at around 18 pounds 4 ounces. He gave the fish to a buddy to eat for dinner, before he realized that he had caught a record breaking fish (the previous record holding fish had only weighed 17 pounds 4 ounces) caught eight years before in Japan. This might have been the catch to “get away” in terms of setting the new world record, however this raises other questions.
   The Snakehead is a large predator from Asia that feeds on other fish. Biologists have long feared that its presence in U.S. rivers and lakes could be very destructive. However, Virginia has seen zero impact on fish in the Potomac. The snakehead population in the Potomac seems to be stabilizing.
   I picked this article because my dad and I always share strange, large fish stories with each other. I actually found this article first and shared it with my dad. This one was special because it’s pretty close to home, here in the Potomac. I think the article was fairly well written, but as a freaky-fish-fenatic I wished there had been more information on other records being set in the Potomac. Besides for that I enjoyed reading the article and felt it gave enough details to follow the story easily.

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