CATDOLL : CATDOLL: Alligator gar has been reported in many places recently. How did it enter China? What threats does it pose to the ecology of various places?

A massive pumping and salvaging operation made many people know about the alien species of alligator gar for the first time. Now, the "strange fish" has been caught, and the purpose of this fishing has finally been achieved. However, the current situation of alligator gar, which was revealed by this eye-catching "fish hunting show", has appeared in many places in China, and more response actions are needed. According to experts, the ferocious fish alligator gar from America has been recorded in the wild in many provinces such as Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian, Henan, Sichuan, and Jiangsu. One of the important reasons why it can appear quickly and on a large scale in many places across the country is that the release behavior is out of control.

The sales data of online shopping platforms also confirms this inference to a large extent. Therefore, in order to truly and effectively control the negative impact of alligator gar, reducing the phenomenon of random buying and selling from the source should be an issue that cannot be avoided. For now, although alligator gar has not yet been included in the national list of key invasive species, online sales and personal purchases are not illegal, but there is a social consensus on its harmfulness. In particular, this salvage operation has made more people see the huge cost of controlling the spread of alligator gar. We should also call on platform merchants to stop selling alligator gar, and individuals should be more cautious in raising and releasing them.

This kind of alien species is usually kept as a pet fish. Later, when they grow up, they don’t want to keep them anymore and have the idea of ​​releasing them. Eventually, they end up in the small river or closed waters of the community! Since it is a pet fish, it must involve purchase and trade. If it is profitable, it is possible to come to the country through trade! Of course, it is definitely difficult to import this kind of alien species formally, and it is basically smuggled in. In addition, many people don’t understand alligator gar and don’t know the harm caused by releasing them. This is also the reason why there are more and more of them in the country; this Ruzhou "strange fish" roundup incident has attracted everyone's attention, and it just happened to popularize the harm of the alien species alligator gar to the ecology! Alligator gar came to China because it has no natural enemies and is carnivorous. If it is released into natural waters, it basically eats all the living things in the water, so it is particularly harmful to the ecology! That’s why there will be news like if there are alligator gar in the pond, basically all other fish will be eaten up!

Applying the saying "no buying, no killing", in the issue of preventing the invasion of alligator gar, we can also say "less buying, less cost", so as to minimize the phenomenon of having to mobilize troops to salvage an alligator gar. From another perspective, this is also something that individuals can do to prevent the invasion of alien species. According to the latest media reports, many e-commerce platforms have removed alligator gar from their shelves. This is undoubtedly a positive response and deserves recognition. Of course, the practice of draining the lake to catch alligator gar has also triggered some different voices. For example, some netizens said that in order to catch two "strange fish" alive, they would not hesitate to drain the lake. Is it too expensive? Is there a better way to catch them? Of course, we can discuss it. But in terms of the social effects brought about by this action, it should be said that it is completely worth it.

You know, although alligator gar has been caught in many places across the country in recent years, it has not attracted enough attention. The risks brought by the "epidemic" of alligator gar have not been widely recognized by the society. In this context, this fishing operation has attracted the attention of the whole network, and in fact it has also completed a large-scale online science popularization, allowing the society to have a more intuitive understanding of the risk of invasion of alien species including alligator gar. Furthermore, this is also likely to become an important opportunity to promote relevant legislation. As an expert said, "The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs will take the lead, and the Ministry of Natural Resources, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment and other ministries and commissions will soon launch a new national list of key invasive species, and we firmly recommend that alligator gar be included." If it can contribute to the improvement of relevant laws and reduce some phenomena of arbitrary release, the social significance of this fishing operation cannot be underestimated.

Only fishermen know about these. If ordinary people don’t specifically look at this, they don’t know at all. The invasion of alligator gar is not even as serious as these. Don’t even mention that alligator gar bites people. As the place of origin, the United States does not take alligator gar too seriously. There are plenty of aggressive aquatic creatures such as crocodiles and pike. Alligator gar is ranked behind. As for alligator gar eating all the fish, our local black fish and catfish are masters of pond cleaning. Red-tailed catfish, nicknamed "lucky cat", is also a master of pond cleaning. By the way, this is also an alien fish from the Amazon in South America, but it has high requirements for water quality and is rare in domestic rivers. It can be caught occasionally in reservoirs.

So this wave is completely a collective carnival of the media. Ruzhou's overreaction is a legitimate excuse to create anxiety for them. As long as the local authorities do not admit that they overreacted, the media is not wrong; the fish cannot talk back if they are scolded, and the Ministry of Agriculture cannot jump out at this time and say "This is a small matter, don't worry about it." They can only bow their heads and admit their mistakes. It is a perfect news focus where only the fish that can't talk back take the blame. It is difficult to find out how it entered China. There is no accurate answer to whether it is an American conspiracy theory, or the ignorant Chinese want to raise it, or both. The threat of alligator gar to the ecology! This guy eats almost nothing in the water. In the past, if there were black fish in a pond or reservoir, the entire water system would be slowly eaten away, and the alligator gar is even worse.

Eliminating alligator gar is undoubtedly a long and arduous task. The Zhengzhou incident was a waste of money and manpower. I personally think that complete elimination should be divided into two aspects: 1. Prohibit the entry, breeding and sale of such fish. 2. Eliminate the existing alligator gar. This is undoubtedly very difficult, and the importance of the majority of anglers is immediately reflected. Refusing uncivilized release starts with me, and you start together. The malicious and deliberate release of species such as alligator gar and alligator turtles should be condemned by the majority of people.

Alligator gar, native to North America, were brought into my country as pets by some aquarium merchants. In some aquarium stores in Nanjing, alligator gar fry are sold for about 200 yuan. Some customers who are curious about them will buy them. Alligator gar have a large appetite and are not picky about food, so they are relatively easy to raise. However, alligator gar eat a lot and grow fast. When they grow to 70 or 80 centimeters long, the fish owners start to worry. As a result, most fish owners will abandon them and release them into rivers, lakes and ponds. Now there may be alligator gar that have been released in Nanjing's Inner and Outer Qinhuai Rivers and the moat, and there may also be some in Xuanwu Lake and Mochou Lake. What is more worrying is that there may also be alligator gar in the Yangtze River. Nanjing releases tens of millions of fish fry of various types into the Yangtze River every year. A part of them has become the "food" of alligator gar.

The ferocious, greedy and gluttonous alligator gar is also a great threat to the young Chinese sturgeons in the Yangtze River. Can the adult Chinese sturgeons beat the ferocious and extra-large alligator gar that is two or three meters long? The finless porpoises are relatively large, so the alligator gar may not attack them, but those small river fish will suffer. If there are alligator gars in the Yangtze River, the river fish will be in danger and in imminent danger.

Of course, it is very difficult to import this kind of alien species, and it is basically smuggled in. Alligator gar has no natural enemies and is carnivorous. If it is released into natural waters, it will basically eat all the living things in the water, so it is particularly harmful to the ecology! That's why there are news reports that if alligator gar appears in a pond, basically all other fish will be eaten!

In fact, it is an alien species. Generally, people treat it as an ornamental fish. Gradually, people feel that it is not so novel, and some people release it into the wild artificially. It poses a great threat to the ecology because it has almost no natural enemies in the water, and it is carnivorous. Almost all the fish in the pond will be eaten by it.

The main reason is that alligator gar are usually kept as pet fish, but when they grow up, they no longer want to keep them and decide to release them into the wild, and they end up in small rivers or closed waters in the community. Alligator gar are also known as "water killers" because they have few natural enemies, are ferocious, and eat everything. They seriously damage local biodiversity and ecological security, and cause serious biological pollution, causing irreversible damage to the ecosystem.