The invasive snakehead, sometimes called Frankenfish for its ability to move across land and even eat birds, was recently caught in Neshaminy Creek in Bensalem, writes Dino Ciliberti for the Patch.
Longtime Holland fisherman Joshua Tees snagged a snakehead last week.
“I thought I hooked a carp. I was like, OMG! That’s a snakehead,” he said.
The dangerous fish can survive for days out of water and was recently spotted and captured in the Schuylkill River in Chester County.
This was not the first snakehead for the 52-year-old fisherman, who has caught 15 over the years in Maryland and two in Virginia. Still, the Pennsylvania catch took him by surprise.
Native to Asia and Africa, snakeheads are unusual in moving across both water and land. These long, torpedo-shaped fish can grow up to 33 inches and weigh around 20 pounds.
Officials said that anglers who catch snakeheads must immediately kill the fish onsite to help slow down their spread.
“I cut its head off,” said Tees. “I’m a catch and release person. But you have to kill it. They eat everything I go fishing for.”
Read more about the snakehead’s presence in local waterways and what it could mean for Pennsylvania’s ecosystem in the Patch.
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