Feral Fish Finds

[Gumby131]

hahaha nah i am not really that aussie, sure i say "g'day" "mate" and "bloke" but their are some fuc*ing retards that call each other 'slugger' and actully do say "put another shrimp on the barbie" and shi* like that. a freind of myne has a nickname called "rooey" becouse he apparently hit a kangaroo on his motorbike. But you Know, i have never met anyione quite like Steve Irwin but neva met an australian who was born here and dosent say 'gday' to you. but yer i can see where you are coming from and can see how you would think that was funny.

 

[OrionGirl]

There's much controversy on the role of introductions within the ecosystem. Honestly, most animals are introduced--very few species still occupy the locations where they evolved. And, of course, introductions are not always human caused--remote islands have been populated by animals/insects/plants hitch hiking on floating debris following coastal flooding events, birds going off course in storms, etc. The introduced species adapt to longer conditions or the die. Once adapted, MOST animals are not actually a threat to local species--the local species have a huge advantage in terms of having had longer to adapt to the local environment, so the introduced species are typically relegated to the margins of the habitat.

Where there's a bigger concerned is with plants. Local plants have been waging the war with local predators for millenia, and the local predators counter-adapting to kepp consuming the local plants. When new plant species are introduced, the local predators either can't or won't consume the new species, which gives it an advantage that can allow it to propogate more successfully than the locals. A good example is cheat grass--it is a fast growing plant, that typically burns every 2-3 years. Here in the West, the natural burn cycle is somewhere between every 10-20 years, so when cheat grass comes in and the burn cycle changes to 2-3 years, the local plants can't react as quickly and never re-establish, while cheat grass spreads at an alarming rate.

Ironically, one of the 'symbols' of the West is an invasive. Tumbleweeds were introduced from Russia in the 1920's--prior to that, I've no idea what rolled through town before a shoot out.

As I said--this is a huge issue. There isn't an easy answer, and a solution that works in one location won't work everywhere.

 

[Roan Art]

Horses in many forms once existed in the US before the Spanish brought theirs over, but they died out early for whatever reason.

You're talking about the late Pleistocene Epoch period, ~11,000 years ago. I don't think that quite qualifies

Roan

 

[Black_Moor]

i lived agross from greenlake for many years theres no Alligators in green lake

2 Summers ago it was all over the news.. I have lived here for over 35 years now.. there was ators that kept killing the Canadian goose population.

Entertain yourself.. read Section #7 .. it was on the ABC News.
Greenlake Gators

 

[Black_Moor]

man.. i new about starlings... but i didnt know about grackles... what other common animals are really feral... what common fish are really feral>???

What common fish.. I heard this second hand.. can it be confirmed? .. Rainbow trout were supposively non existant until created in a college lab .. or is this one of those old myths/tales?

 

[Fish Kate]

Don't Fool with Mother Nature

Here's one for you-- I grew up during the 60's and early 70's on a small lake in Northern Indiana. We had native species of sunfish and bluegills, some carp, catfish, striped bass, and lots of turtles, frogs, and snakes, plus all the small mammals and birds that ate them. It was a beautiful little lake, with a sandy bottom and just a few weeds along the shore. There were always minnows and polliwogs everywhere, and the water was so clear you could see the bottom, with all the little fish houses hollowed out and lined with small rocks. It was a fabulous place to be a kid. We swam and had a little wooden row boat and there was a big public beach across the lake from us.

WELL...the local Powers That Be decided to turn our beautiful little lake into a "Sports Fishing" lake for some reason. So in their infinite wisdom, they DUMPED POISON into the lake one summer and killed absolutely everything that swam. I remember walking around the shore, as a kid of about 7 or 8, just crying to see all the dead fish (and animals that ate the fish, and birds, and etc etc). The plan was to restock the lake with "Game Fish" the following season.

3 guesses what happened. The lake filled with algae and then weeds, which choked the water so badly that NO fish could live in it and thrive. So, the local geniuses decided to DUMP IN MORE POISON to kill the weeds!!!! I am NOT making this up!

I have been back to visit the lake (it's called Pinhook and is in South Bend Indiana) over the years, and even though they did this almost 40 years ago, the lake has never recovered. It is still choked with weeds and the fish population is minimal. No one swims or boats there anymore, and the few fishermen that fish there don't catch any wonderful game fish, that's for freakin' sure. Talk about our tax dollars at work.

I guess everyone knows about the zebra mussels in Lake Michigan (got here in bilge water) and now the Asian Carp that are working their way towards us. They've been found in the Chicago River and an electic barrier has been installed to keep them from invading the big lake.

Considering how long it took Mother Nature to arrange things that work, we sure are screwing it up in a hurry.

 

[plainzwalker]

Heres one that a lot of people don't consider. Brown trout. Yep, that wonderfully tasting fish that so many anglers seek. It's also known as German Browns, or German Trout for a reason. In the infinite wisdom of US Fish and Game they decided to trade German rainbow trout for brown trout. So now brown trout, which are highly predatorial fish, have bloomed and are now found through out n. america. While in europe rainbow trout have also successfully propagetd through out it's water ways.