Is it a snake? Is it a fish? No, it’s a northern snakehead! This bizarre creature – technically a fish, though someone should tell its face – is an invasive species capable of breathing air and slithering like its reptilian doppelganger. Last month, one was caught in Missouri by an astonished angler.

Captured on May 25, below Wappapello Lake Spillway in Wayne County, it marks the fourth time a northern snakehead has been recorded in the state, according to the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC).

The northern snakehead fish (Channa argus) has a long body and a snake-like head covered in python-patterned scales. They can grow up to 1 meter (3 feet) long and are fearsome predators, feasting largely on other fish, as well as crustaceans, frogs, small reptiles, and sometimes unfortunate small birds and mammals.

Unlike most fish, which live a purely aquatic life, the northern snakehead can breathe air, which comes in handy in poorly oxygenated water. They can also survive on land for several days provided they stay moist, and are even able to slither like a snake to return to water.

The species is not native to the US – it actually hails from Asia – and is a menace to native species, which they prey upon and compete for resources against. 

The most recent discovery is the fourth time the befuddled fish has been spotted in Missouri state – the first was found in a ditch in 2019 and two more were caught last year – and it came as quite a surprise to the fisher who found it on the end of their line.

“The angler recognized they had something different and researched the fish’s characteristics, and realized it was indeed a snakehead,” said MDC Fisheries Biologist Dave Knuth. “The angler left it on the pavement for several hours thinking it would die, and it never did.”

The fish was then bagged and transported to the local US Army Corps of Engineers office, where MDC agent Jacob Plunkett retrieved it after nearly four hours spent in a bag.

“When I picked up the fish, it was still very much alive,” Plunkett said.

If you too should find yourself having caught a strange snakey specimen, the MDC stresses that you should not release it. Once you’ve identified it as a northern snakehead, they recommend killing it “by severing the head, gutting it, or placing it in a sealed plastic bag”.

Officials believe the invasive fish may have first entered US rivers after an accident at a commercial fish farm in Arkansas in 2008, and since then they’ve swum (and slithered) their way north through the waters of the St. Francis River watershed.