SNAKEHEADS--END OF CHAPTER ONE:

Slipped a Fatal Dose: Potent Fish Toxin Nets Scores of the Alien Species in Crofton Pond (Anita Huslin, September 5, 2002, Washington Post)

At daybreak yesterday, Maryland biologists unleashed their ultimate weapon against the strange, toothy Asian snakehead that has turned the international spotlight on a small, overgrown pond in Crofton and provided a textbook case of the dangers of alien species.

As a pair of biologists navigated a flat-bottomed boat through the shallows, focusing a stream of milky poison into the pond, the acrid scent of chemicals wafted across the water. Fish almost immediately began to move away from the toxins, rippling and splashing the water. In the laboratory, fish exposed to the poison react within two minutes. At the pond, with cameras and reporters focused on them, biologists exhaled when distressed fish began surfacing to gulp air.

"It's a neat chemical," said Steve Early, the man in charge of the operation for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. "It's intended to work in highly organic ponds with resistant species. It's doing exactly what we expected."

The poison, rotenone, is derived from the leaves and roots of trees and is used by some South American cultures to harvest fish from rivers and streams. [...]

By early afternoon, officials found what they believe started all of this: a large adult, about 18 inches long, likely one of two fish set loose in the pond nearly two years ago. [...]

Yesterday afternoon, Early took a victory lap around the pond on a four-wheel-drive utility vehicle. The snakehead saga was ending.

Kind of like they thought Michael Myers was done for at the end of Halloween. Posted by Orrin Judd at September 5, 2002 3:00 PM