Top 10 Invasive Species

[Don]

http://www.time.com/time/specials

Scroll down thn click on Top 10 Invasive Species.

Pythons?

[MstStudent10]

Just another reason not to go swimming around in the everglades...as if the gators weren't enough...

[Geoff]

They are pretty bad in Florida actually.

[Wayne SW/MO]

They didn't mention Iguanas, which I understand are also a nuisance in Florida. There was an article during the freeze about the wrath a women was experiencing because she was saving Iguanas.

The Brits should learn to fry up those squirrels, and the Aussie's the rabbits.

The Asian carp are said to be good eating and useful as livestock feed, but the market logistics aren't there. To bad the government couldn't put a little more money in to establishing an industry utilizing them.

[fishgypsy]

They didn't mention Iguanas, which I understand are also a nuisance in Florida. There was an article during the freeze about the wrath a women was experiencing because she was saving Iguanas.

The Brits should learn to fry up those squirrels, and the Aussie's the rabbits.

The Asian carp are said to be good eating and useful as livestock feed, but the market logistics aren't there. To bad the government couldn't put a little more money in to establishing an industry utilizing them.

The carp are pretty good- mild, firm white flesh, similar to tuna. And it is a shame there's been little market development for them yet (human food or otherwise), though I have heard some ventures that breaking the fish down to their fatty acids for vitamin supplements.

I liked the article, but it's a shame people focus so much attention on species which will generate a lot of media hype like snakeheads, pythons and killer bees while less sexy invasives, like didymo algae and crayfish, for example, get little or no coverage.

[jdmidwest]

What about man, the reason most of the species are invasive? If we had left them where they were, they would not be here now.

Gray Squirrels?? I have not heard that one.

[drew03cmc]

They forgot one...brown trout. Not native here, outcompeting native brook, cutthroat and rainbow trout, yet still stocked and managed. How about rainbow trout east of California, Washington and Oregon? Asian carp are fun to chase on a fly rod.

Oh well, all things find a way to exist where they are at, and for that, we gain another sporting species.

I love how the common carp was an invasive species, and now they are the hottest thing in fly fishing.

[Wayne SW/MO]

How about Brook trout out west, or salmon and steelhead in the Great Lakes. Its endless, but I think they mean species that were not meant to be introduced by authorities or introduced illegally.

[drew03cmc]

Good point Wayne.

[jdmidwest]

All of the trout in Missouri and Arkansas are non native and have been transplanted here. Rainbows, Cutts, Brookies, and Browns were all brought in to compete with the native smallmouth bass.