10,000 mosquito eating fish imported to New Orleans

[BOSSHOG]

They are being put into abandoned swimming pools to help fight the growing mosquito problem. The city is way below normal for rainfall this year. Its making for a miserable summer.

[sui generis]

1. I was going to say that's a lot of mosquitos on one fish

but then I drank some more coffee.

:blush:

[Speck Tater]

3. How many mosquitos does it take to eat one fish? (nt)

[kiki]

12. This is why God invented hyphens.

:)

[donsu]

2. gosh fish farms out lobbied petro barons for the money

nt

[misanthrope]

4. That's curious...

...we're way below normal on rainfall in Mobile as well and the only benefit of it is that the mosquitoes are almost non-existent.

[jedicord]

5. And next year's headline is:

"Louisiana is devastated by mosquito-eating fish screwing up the environmental balance."

[ladjf]

7. Hopefully, they are referring to the "Gambusia", top minnow that

is already living in most of the SouthEast. They are small are have presented no problems to date. These are close relatives to guppies. However, 10,000 is a minuscule number, unlikely to have any significant impact. 10 million might do the job.

[shireen]

9. also known as "Damnbusia"

because they've been introduced to places where they don't naturally occur, and have upset many aquatic environments.

They're mean little fellas too ... very aggressive. And prolific (livebearers/give birth to young).

[CornField]

10. If they keep them limited to inland areas -- like abandoned swimming pools

This shouldn't be a problem. Hopefully that's what they are doing instead of introducing them into the native populations.

[shireen]

14. well-meaning people may release them into streams and ponds,

that's what I'm concerned about. If a fish is not native to a particular region, it does not belong in the natural environment because we don't know how it will interact with native animals and plants. (Same principle applies to any alien animal or plant -- sometimes, nature hasn't had time to evolve defenses to keep their numbers in check.) That's why we have carp chomping down on aquatic grasses like overactive lawn mowers, and tropical fish from aquariums in the Everglades competing for resources with the native fish, to name a few examples.

[ladjf]

11. I knew that they were rather aggressive for their and that they

were live bearers. Didn't know that they were harming any environments. How do they do that?

[shireen]

13. competition with indigenous species

They are better able to compete for resources with native species. See http://www.gambusia.net/ for more info.

Same problem with birds ... some Shakespeare freak from the 1800s brought in Starlings and House Sparrows to North America, and they're now the dominant birds at many feeders in the surburbs (http://www.mdc.mo.gov/conmag/1996/12/20.html).

[Saphire]

6. and then what will we send to kill the mosquito eating fish after we

find out what they do to the environment. Can you say "nutra rat"?

[hatrack]

8. Yes, they'll thrive in the toxic stew of runoff from refineries & cars

Super idea!

:eyes:

[LittleClarkie]

15. Oh great. Kudzu fish.

Transplanting species isn't always a good idea.

[BuyingThyme]

16. In my world, anybody can get the mosquito fish and put 'em

in their ponds, troughs, etc.

[saltpoint]

17. Maybe some bats would help, too. Don't they eat a hundred or something

mosquitoes per minute?