Asia’s predatory fish gets a taste for Aussie sea life
Even in Australia, a country full of weird and lethal predators, there is nothing like the Asian climbing perch – a fish happy out of water, able to scurry across land and capable of killing large birds – and worried scientists have discovered it is heading their way.
The climbing perch, native to south and southeast Asia, has reached Australia’s northern islands and it is feared that native fish and bird populations will be devastated if its progress cannot be stopped.
The perch’s enlarged gills, which it uses for support as it pushes itself overland, also con- tain spines that choke its predators. The fish have been found wedged in the throats of dead birds, including pelicans, and sea snakes.
‘‘It will be devastating for the local fish species up there [in northern mainland Australia], barramundi and whole other species,’’ Dr Nathan Waltham, an aquatic ecologist at James Cook University in Queensland, said.
Scientists had assumed that the spread of the fish southwards through Indonesia and Papua New Guinea was caused by floods washing them from their freshwater habitat to the sea, but now believe the perch are spread by fishermen, who use them as live bait.
In December scientists discovered that climbing perch had adapted further; the species, commonly found in freshwater, had developed a high tolerance to salt water. In the Torres Strait, between mainland Australia and New Guinea, scientists saw the fish in saltwater holes.
A team of rangers has now been being trained to hunt and kill the fish. ‘‘We know this species is there,’’ Waltham said. ‘‘The challenge is to make sure it doesn’t continue south.’’