Who’s The Big Frankenfish That Survives On Land And Makes You His Bitch? Snap! It’s The Northern Snakehead!

A year after the superpredator snakehead fish was found in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, the problem fish is still not entirely under control:

The “frankenfish” lives.

That’s the verdict of state wildlife officials, who continue to catch the northern snakehead — popularly known as “the frankenfish” for its voracious appetite, razor sharp teeth and ability to live out of water for hours — in Willow and Meadow lakes in Flushing Meadows Park.

A Queens College professor first spotted the alien invaders more than a year ago. After hunting the fish with weighted nets, trawling the waters with a boat fitted with small electric shockers and even flooding the lakes with seawater, state biologists have yet to eliminate the hardy predators.

Only last week, Jim Gilmore, natural resources supervisor with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, pulled three more out of the two lakes. He was quick to put the catch in perspective. “We’ve found quite a few animals, but we’ve yet to find any juveniles,” Gilmore said. “You’re not seeing hundreds of them.”

The snakehead is an invasive species that is illegal to import or release into the wild. Biologists suspect it was introduced into Willow and Meadow lakes as part of a Buddhist ritual, or in the hopes of stocking the lakes with the fish, a delicacy in Asian countries. The northern snakehead can grow up to 3 feet long, has a sleek, torpedo shaped body and mottled, snake like scales.

Having pledged to eradicate the snakeheads after their discovery last summer, the Parks Department and the Department of Environmental Conservation have been unable to wipe out the tenacious fish, but are hesitant to take more extreme measures.

“A drastic solution would be poisoning both lakes. That would be a severe thing, and we’re hopefully not going to do that,” Gilmore said.

The danger of the snakehead is its status as an “apex,” or top, predator. Once it secures a position in an ecosystem and begins reproducing, it can quickly take over the top of the food chain, breed prodigiously and eventually wipe out weaker native species.

According to Gilmore, the good news is that the failure to catch any juveniles suggest that the snakeheads are not breeding successfully. “I was more concerned last summer,” he added. “I don’t think they’re taking the lake over. I think we’re eventually going to get rid of them.”

Location scout: Meadow Lake.