Son of snakehead

last updated 8 January 2015

Alexandria, Va.

Scientists confirmed this week that a baby northern snakehead had been found in the Potomac River—the first proof that the voracious fish are breeding in open waters. Scientists had been trying to eradicate the imported predators, which can crawl over land, before they began driving out bass and other local species. Biologists drained a Maryland pond where the first snakehead was found, in 2002, but began losing hope as anglers caught 19 more this summer. Scientists believe there may be thousands of baby snakeheads in the Potomac by now. “The snakeheads are in charge,” said Walter Courtenay Jr. of the U.S. Geological Survey.