Snakehead fish (photo of the predator can be seen below) has a greenish-brown elongated body with dark spots. In front, it is almost cylindrical, shrinking only closer to the tail. The head is somewhat reminiscent of a snake, the same flattened and covered with large scales, like snake shields. Some see in it a great resemblance to the head of a gyurza. In one of the pictures, the teeth of a predator are clearly visible. It will probably not be easy for prey to get out of such a mouth. In addition, the snakehead is a fish with a special structure of the respiratory system. In addition to gills, she also has supra-gill organs that allow her to breathe atmospheric air.
What kind of nicknames does the snake-headed fish have: green snake, water, toothed, dragon, eel, frog and so on. This predator lives today in the rivers and lakes of the Khabarovsk Territory and Karakalpakstan, as well as in reservoirs that stretch between the Tien Shan and the Caspian. In general, India is considered its homeland, it is also found in the waterstropical Africa.
Snakehead is a fish that likes to settle in quiet water bodies, choosing places that are snarled or heavily overgrown with algae. He is absolutely not afraid of the lack of oxygen, as he periodically rises to the water surface and swallows air with a special champ. Snakehead fish easily survive even in drained ponds. She rips out a chamber in the mud, smearing it with slime, and buries herself in it in anticipation of the next season. Hiding in pits, this predator can wait out the frosts, without water it can stay for 5 days.
Snakehead is a fish that easily changes its habitat. To do this, she crawls overland from one reservoir to another, and overcomes considerable distances. And local residents during such mass migrations catch predators crawling in the grass. Usually such a migration is associated with a lack of food, because the snakehead is a fish that is a king and a god in its habitat. She eats everything that comes her way. These can be tadpoles, fish, invertebrates, frogs, small rodents, and even waterfowl, which are pulled underwater by a predator. Snakeheads are very voracious, they have well-developed jaws with many strong and sharp teeth. Any living creature that has fallen into such a mouth has practically no chance of salvation.
Puberty in this fish occurs when it reaches a length of 30 cm, and this happens no earlier than two years of age. It spawns in the first two summer months, when the water temperature rises to 21 ºC. The snakehead builds a nest out ofall kinds of aquatic plants, and in diameter it reaches at least 1 meter. The females of these fish are highly productive. They are capable of making about 5 clutches in one season, and in each of them there are from 25 to 35 thousand eggs. Literally in a few days, fry already appear, and their parents carefully protect their offspring.
The snakehead has no natural enemies in its habitat. When he moves to a new territory, not a single predatory fish is able to cope with him. That is why the snakehead fish poses a real threat to the rest of the underwater world. And, for example, in several states of America, this predator is banned for import, it is not allowed to be kept even in aquariums. It hasn't done much damage in our country yet. We have snakeheads - a wonderful object of hunting. And many anglers with great passion and pleasure pull this river snake!
