A thirteen-foot reticulated python was found in a South Florida backyard pool on Christmas Day. Florida Fish and Wildlife says it’s going to use the snake as Show and Tell to help train its employees and its citizen-eyes-on-the-road.
Read more about the Christmas Surprise
USA Today: Florida Family’s Christmas Surprise
Fall is here, and the “cactus fig” is in season. Time to plate-up another widespread invader.
It’s spring and time to weed. Sow thistle is a delicious invader found throughout the continent.
Lamb’s quarters was a popular spring tonic in the South—an early season edible green—but its leaves are good throughout the summer. Chenopodium album Native range: Described by Linnaeus in 1753, this European native has been transferred throughout much of the world. Because its spread was rarely recorded, C. album‘s native and invasive [...]
Foeniculum vulgare Native range: Mediterranean, from Turkey west to Spain and Morocco Invasive range: Much of North and South America, South Africa, and parts of Oceania and the British Isles. Check out the USDA Plants Database to see if it’s found near you. Habitat: Roadsides, pastures, along the edge of wild habitats. Rocky shores [...]
Alliaria petiolata Native range: Europe, Asia, Northwest Africa Invasive range: Much of the Lower 48, Alaska, and Canada. (See map.) Habitat: Moist, shaded soil of floodplains, forests, roadsides, edges of woods, and forest openings. Often dominant in disturbed areas. Description: Biennial herb. First-year plant has a rosette of green leaves close to the ground. [...]
Some say it started in 1992 in Miami when Hurricane Andrew smashed an aquarium tank. Don’t blame the weather, others say; in the mid-nineties, disappointed yet softhearted hobbyists…
Undaria pinnatifida Native range: Japan Sea Invasive range: Southern California, San Francisco Bay, New Zealand, Australia, Europe, Argentina Habitat: Opportunistic seaweed, can be found on hard substrates including rocky reefs, pylons, buoys, boat hulls, and abalone and bivalve shells. Description: Golden brown seaweed, growing up to nine feet. Forms thick canopy. Reproductive sporophyll in [...]
The first sighting of the Asian shore crab in the United States was at Townsend Inlet, Cape May County, New Jersey, in 1988. Though the source is unknown . . .
The common periwinkle, which first appeared in New England in the 1860s, is now found along the coast wherever there’s hard substrate–rocks, riprap, broken concrete, or docks–from Labrador to . . .
Since the green crab was first recorded off southern Massachusetts in 1817, it has been hard to ignore. A few minutes of rock-flipping in Maine can turn up dozens of them, brandishing their claws as they retreat…
There are numerous invasive crayfish. We include details for the red swamp crayfish (Procambarus clarkii) and the rusty crayfish (Orenectes rusticus). The same recipes can be used for both species–and many other invasive crayfish. Red Swamp Crayfish Native range: Known as Louisiana crayfish, crawdad, and mudbug, Procambarus clarkii is native to the south central [...]
His sister was ailing, and the man in Maryland remembered that, back home in Hong Kong, there was a fish that was considered a delicacy and a restorative. He would make a fish soup…
“They live in a wide variety of habitats, colonize new ones readily, and eat everything that fits into their mouths,” says Dr. Peter Moyle of the Center for Watershed Sciences at UC-Davis…
Nutria, also known as coypu and river rat, is native to temperate and subtropical South America. It has been introduced to Europe, Asia, and Africa, mainly for fur farming. These voracious. . .
For a bottom-feeder, what is the good life? The common carp isn’t very demanding: any body of water that’s sluggish and murky will do. One catching sewage or…
Is that the silver carp, Hypophthalmichthys molitrix, in its native country described in the last two lines? The Boatman’s Flute Today there is no wind on the Yangtze; the water is calm and green with no waves or ripples. All around the boat light floats in the air [...]
A couple of months ago we wrote about a new paper in Management of Biological Invasions reiviewing harvest incentives for managing invasives. The folks over at invasivore.org did a bang-up job of parsing these out in 11 recommendations for effective harvest. Read them here.
Aquarium fish, sold as juveniles in the pet trade but able to outgrow their tanks, are at a high risk of becoming invasive. See the new paper in Marine Policy.
Researchers at the University of Prince Edward Island in Canada claim to have found a way to enhance molting in green crabs. If they can scale this up, and drum up interest by local chefs, they may just start a market for softshell invaders. Read more here.
Biologists Susan Pasko and Jason Goldberg discuss harvesting invaders in a new paper in Management of Biological Invasions. Incentive programs, such as bounties and encouraging recreational harvests, appear to be appropriate for certain species and regions. Among the many benefits is the development of an outreach program. “By engaging the public and encouraging harvest,” the [...]
“Most of us eat only what we know. It’s time to put on our boots (or our sneakers) and look around.”
