Thread: Great Snake Head Fish

Great Snake Head Fish

Channa marulius

Great Snakehead Fish are a food and aquarium fish that is native to Southeast Asia but is an invasive species causing trouble in other areas.

* Great Snakehead Description - Young are reddish brown with stripes. Adults are dark on back and light on the bellies, with wide variations in color based on water acidity. They are long thin fish hence the name. Their heads are snakelike with many spike like teeth.

* Great Snakehead Size - World record is 9 pounds 13 ounces caught by Jean-Francois Helias in Thailand in 2006 They are the biggest of the snakeheads and grow to 66 pounds but none that big have been caught on rod and reel.

* Great Snakehead Distribution - Native to Asia from Pakistqn to China, south to Thailand and Cambodia and Boreno. They have been introduced to many other areas and have adapted to others places, including several states in the US.

* What Great Snakehead Eat - Anything that moves, including fish, frogs, snakes,crustaceans and even birds and rodents. They ambush their food, they do not usually chase it.

* Great Snakehead Spawn - Snakeheads reproduced by laying eggs in nest they build in vegetation in shallow water. Females may produce 100 to 1000 young each time they spawn and some species can spawn more than one time a year.

* Great Snakehead Attraction to Light - They may come to light to feed on prey attracted to the light.

* Great Snakehead Life Cycle - Snakeheads grow fast after hatching by eating insects and small water critters. As they get bigger they tend to hide in cover and eat anything that passes within range. They continue to grow fast and have no natural enemies. They are prolific and produce a lot of young that have a good survival rate so they can become very common in a body of water very quickly.

* Great Snakehead Problems - Snakeheads eat game fish and have no predators to they can overcrowd a body of water and harm native species. They are adapted to survive in water with little oxygen and can even crawl across land for short distances on their fins, taking in oxygen from a special bronchial adaptations. They will not attack people but may injure anyone stepping on them.
More here.

Chinese Steamed Fish Toman (Snakehead) Fillet

A Chinese-style Steamed Fish...best for the busy executives who have no time to cook, yet desire to adopt a healthy meal plan of dining in as often as possible. You can thaw the fish (remove frozen fillet from freezer) in the fridge before leaving for work in the morning (or overnight the day before). When you return from work in the evenings - remove the thawed fillet from the fridge (marinate as follow, below), cut the tomatoes, mushrooms, green onions and ginger, assemble and steam.

Chinese-style Steamed Toman Fillet
Ingredients:
Toman fish fillet (snakehead) - some salt and white pepper, rubbed gently on the fish + lightly marinate with 1tsp rice wine + 3 drops of sesame oil + 1/2 tsp dark soy sauce; sliced ginger; sliced green onion,; tomato - cut into wedges; thinly sliced mushrooms

Directions:
1. Remove the thawed fillet and marinate (as per Ingredients above)
2. Cut and prepare tomatoes, mushrooms, green onions and ginger (Note: In this process, the fish is marinated for some time)
3. Assemble, then steam for 5-8mins, depending on thickness of fillet. Thickness of ~1.5cm about 7mins (Note: you can always slice thinner to reduce cooking time but only if you have time to do slicing of a thick fillet. Note1: Another trick is to "score" the fish so that it allows thorough seasoning and reduce time to cook)
4. Serve with steamed rice.
More recipes here

Thai Freshwater Fish