MARYLAND -- Maryland's effort to fight back against the spreading, invasive northern snakehead fish, now known as the Chesapeake Channa, could be facing a new challenge in the fish's breeding patterns.
In a recent Channa fertility study, Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) biologist Dr. Joseph Love found Channa in the upper Chesapeake Bay were carrying eggs of noticeably different sizes. He says the findings led him to believe that the fish are breeding twice per year and in turn, producing double the offspring.
"That is valuable information when we're looking at things like population dynamics and habitat use for the species," says Dr. Love.
Spawning season for Channa typically begins in late April and continues through August.
Dr. Love says the female Channa he and his colleagues found carried an average of 60,000 eggs at a time, with larger Channa holding even more.
Owner of Choptank River Crab and Oyster Company Mason Little says what he's observed while fishing for Channa at Black Water Refuge this year seems to correlate with DNR's findings.
"Normally, we have them steady all through the year, but this year we noticed that we started seeing them as early as July, then they kind of fell right back off in August, and now they're just chopping along, only seeing one or two," says Little.
According to Little, Channa are often hard to find when they're spawning and protecting their young.
Dr. Love says still, the best time to to harvest Channa is before they spawn.
"Even fishing in June, July or August could still be beneficial, because you're nabbing those females before they spawn again that year," says Dr. Love.
