Maryland is renaming the invasive snakehead fish in hopes of getting more people to eat it. The fish arrived in the DMV in 2002 and has been the scourge of our rivers and ecosystems ever since. The snakehead fish will soon be known as the Chesapeake channa.
The Perfect Invasive Species
Snakeheads are creepy. So much so that they got a horror movie made about them. They can eat almost anything, spawn multiple times per year, and can breathe air. They can survive outside of water for days at a time and can even “walk” between bodies of water. All this has led to them crowding out other native fish and becoming an overall menace to our ecosystem.
Enter the Chesapeake Channa
Maryland figures the best way to get the population under control is to get people to eat them. State senator Jack Bailey says, “If you can’t beat them, eat them.” But who wants to order the snakehead, right? Bailey’s new bill, which became law last month, officially renames the snakehead the “Chesapeake channa” in an effort to drum up customer demand.
Sour spicy soup with fried snakehead fish. (Boy_Anupong/Getty Images)
Will a Rebrand Actually Help?
While renaming the snakehead can’t hurt, it is unclear whether it will help with demand for the fish. Many restaurateurs say they have no problem selling snakehead, and that it’s actually a supply issue. Because they don’t swim in large schools, snakeheads must be caught individually, which can make them hard to source. So, it seems unlikely that this name change will lead to a surging market for the invasive species, but I’d certainly try it.
