via USFWS
While the US Fish and Wildlife Service Fish Of The Week Podcast often features species of more interest to anglers, there are times when the podcast intersects with the aquarium hobby. This week, hosts Katrina Liebich and Guy Eroh put the spotlight on Misgurnus anguillicaudatus, the Weather Loach.
Your hosts are joined by researchers Wesley Gerrin and Sarah Frances McNair from the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources at the University of Georgia. The podcast starts with Gerrin recounting the 2020 the discovery of some unusual, eel-like fishes during a routine fish survey at a site called “Redneck Beach”, a college kid hangout describe as a “a cesspool of Idiocracy,” on Georgia’s McNutt Creek.
The discovery of Weather Loaches in multiple locations in Georgia revealed that this was a much larger issue than an isolated population in McNutt Creek, as the researchers explain. While the aquarium trade is often viewed as the source for these sorts of invasions, researchers note that genetic investigations of the wild populations in Georgia with the fish for sale in local aquarium stores were “actually a different species that looks almost exactly the same.” However, this doesn’t rule out aquarium releases by hobbyists that may have occurred years prior.
While the Weather Loach has been a staple offering in the aquarium trade for decades, it has non-native populations around the world, including 22 U.S. states. This species is now illegal to possess and sell in several U.S. states due to its ability to become established and even invasive. However, researchers acknowledge that the fish are likely here to stay.
What do Weather Loaches compete with? How long can they actually live? They can breathe out of whaaaaat?! As Leibich concludes, “Fish are amazing. Every single fish on Earth they’ve got something interesting about them. But as humans, we have kind of the ethics and ability to keep them where they should be, and preserve that amazing diversity across the globe.”
There is so much more to unpack about the Weather Loach, so take a listen and remember: NEVER RELEASE YOUR AQUARIUM FISH INTO THE WILD, or as Liebich puts it, “Don’t delete our amazing native North American fish diversity by releasing non-native fishes!”
LISTEN IN
Season 5, Episode 24 – Weather Loach!
