USGS Scientists Find New Invasive Fish Species ...( ts of the Chattahoochee River system. ...)

ts of the Chattahoochee River system. To determine if this is true, University of Georgia scientists, in coordination with the National Park Service, are sampling the Chattahoochee system. In Georgia, entire groups of fish have disappeared from one impoundment populated by the eels, making Florida scientists especially aware of the potential effect of this species on the state's native fish communities.

Of particular concern to scientists and resource managers is the ability of swamp eels to thrive in a wide variety of natural habitats and in adverse conditions. In addition to marsh and swamp habitats, Nico said the fish survives quite well in ponds, canals, roadside ditches and rice fields -- "just about any freshwater habitat with a few inches of water."

Another trait that could help these fish successfully colonize southeastern waterways is that swamp eels are air breathers, enabling them to survive long dry spells. In fact, said Nico, their use of air is so efficient that the eels can readily migrate short distances across land from one water body to another.

Swamp eels, which reach lengths of three feet or more, are predators, feeding on animals such as worms, insects, shrimp, crayfish, other fishes and frogs. Yet, said Nico, the eels are also able to survive weeks -- and possibly months -- without food. The eels are highly secretive, with most of their activities occurring at night. In the day, the fish hide in thick aquatic vegetation or in small burrows and crevices along the water's edge. In many populations, all young are hatched as females. Then, after spending part of their life as females, the eels transform into large males.

Swamp eels belong to the family Synbranchidae, a group of fishes found in fresh and brackish waters in Central and South America, Africa, and from India east to Australia. These fish are not true eels, in part because they do not migrate to the ocean to spawn. The species introduced to Florida has been ten
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Contact: Hannah Hamilton
Hannah_Hamilton@usgs.gov
352-378-8181
United States Geological Survey
25-Jun-1998

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