- 5 months ago
Documentary, River Monsters S02E03 Killer Snakehead
Category
🐳
AnimalsTranscript
00:00Animal Planet, surprisingly human.
00:06My name's Jeremy Wade.
00:09I'm a biologist with a passion for dangerous fish.
00:13The big, the bad, and the ugly.
00:17What a monster this thing is.
00:19Now, I'm after a predator that's invading America.
00:23Watch your pets, watch your children.
00:25It has spawned horror movies, and stands accused of homicide.
00:32These fish have reportedly attacked humans.
00:35Allegedly, it can even breathe air and crawl on land.
00:41But how much of this can I actually believe?
00:45I intend to separate fact from fiction,
00:48and to find out firsthand if this beast really does attack people.
00:52Does its bite match the hype?
00:58And could these so-called frankenfish take over?
01:01Ahem.
01:08Ahem.
01:09Ahem.
01:12Ahem.
01:21I've been investigating dangerous freshwater fish for over 20 years,
01:34but I've never come across an animal quite like this before.
01:38According to this website, they hunt in packs.
01:42It says here they have a poisonous bite, cannibalistic, eats everything in its path,
01:48breathes air and walks on land.
01:53Some of these reports make it sound like some kind of primeval throwback.
01:58A creature from before the dinosaurs, when fish were first starting to crawl out of the swamps.
02:07There's a story here from Malaysia of a man apparently castrated.
02:14And another story here from Thailand, apparently somebody killed.
02:19To find out if these horrific reports are true, I'll be heading to Southeast Asia.
02:25As well as finding eyewitnesses, I want to track down the monster that stands accused.
02:32The snakehead is a fish born with a taste for flesh.
02:36A beauty that turns into a beast.
02:41This seems like a fish that punches well above its weight.
02:44If just half of what I'm reading is true, then the snakehead really is a beast to be reckoned with.
02:51I want to meet this fish in the flesh and find out what it is truly capable of.
02:56Can they really breathe air and crawl across land?
02:59Is it true that they are spreading like a virus, devouring everything in their path?
03:03And are they really aggressive enough to attack and kill a human?
03:10My search for this alleged killer begins in a place where it doesn't belong.
03:18I'm in South Florida, pursuing an animal that's travelled halfway around the world and is now busy invading new territory far from its natural home.
03:27When Bob Newland pulled a weird looking creature from a Miami backwater in 2000, he took it to Florida's exotic fish lab to find out what it was.
03:39When I got it there, I just dropped it right on the floor and I said, OK, Paul, what is this?
03:44And he just looked at me and said, oh, I don't know.
03:47And then he got a big book and they looked in the book and eventually Paul came over and he said, this is what it is.
03:51It's a snakehead.
03:52And after that, he wanted to know exactly where I caught it and I said, I caught it on a golf course in Tamarack.
03:57And then he said, no, I need to know what hole you found it on.
04:00Government scientist Paul Sharfland had to act fast.
04:04What we had hoped was that they would only be in one pond.
04:07And if they were in one pond, we could go in and eradicate.
04:12But when his team checked the surrounding canals, it was bad news.
04:17Snakehead, 583.
04:19The invaders were already on the move.
04:22South Florida is a maze of interconnected canals.
04:26We couldn't have created a more ideal habitat for snakeheads.
04:32Sharfland is up against the bullseye snakehead.
04:36But this is just one member of a much larger gang.
04:41Snakeheads are in fact a group of almost 30 different species that range in size from a small flick knife to a four-foot torpedo.
04:49They're ambush predators with long camouflaged bodies, ripping teeth and a reputation for extreme aggression.
04:59Their global empire already stretches from tropical Africa to the Far East, including Russia.
05:06And they seem to be spreading.
05:11Soon after Newland's discovery, a second species surfaced in Maryland, just 20 miles from Washington, D.C.
05:19The northern snakehead is built to survive cold Siberian winters, and its presence set off alarm bells in the government and the media.
05:28These fish are top-level predators that will eat anything in their path.
05:38They can travel across land and live out of water for three days.
05:46Snakeheads reportedly even attacked humans.
05:49Attacked humans.
05:51Attacked humans.
05:52This just sort of took off, and it exploded with the media.
05:58People were calling in and saying, do we have to worry about our children being attacked on the way to school?
06:03Can we leave our pets outside in the yard, or will the snakeheads eat them?
06:10Meanwhile, scientists from the Fish and Wildlife Department feared that these snakeheads could unleash ecological havoc.
06:16And in a bid to wipe them out, they poisoned an entire pond, killing every last fish.
06:25Yet despite efforts to exterminate them, northern snakeheads are now established in five states across the eastern U.S.
06:35Media hype is one thing.
06:37But when a government is spending millions of dollars to fight a fish, you know you've got a serious problem.
06:46I never expected that I'd be fishing in a quiet residential area, for fish that have been branded worse than piranhas.
06:55I'm in South Florida, just a few miles from where snakeheads first showed up.
07:01To catch one of these alien invaders, I'm using a lure that imitates live prey.
07:07Most baits and lures, you've got the hook exposed, but here, if a fish grabs it, that's what happens.
07:19I hook up with local guide, Alan Zaremba, an experienced snakehead angler.
07:24Very nice.
07:26Look at that.
07:26Oh, there's one!
07:27Oh, no more!
07:28First cast, and the frog had a huge lump of salad with it as well, and the fish went for meat and veg, but didn't hook up.
07:45Ah, that was a hit and a miss.
07:47Yeah, that's another snakehead.
07:48The problem with the snakeheads, when they attack, you get one shot at them, they don't come back for a second shot.
07:53But what do they eat? I mean, it's not just fish, is it?
07:55They'll eat anything that's moving that they can ambush.
07:59The adults at least appear to be lone hunters.
08:02They're not swarming in packs like piranhas.
08:05But as I work the banks, it's clear that these canals are crawling with snakeheads.
08:10Oh, yes!
08:11Ah!
08:12And there was a hit.
08:13That was a hit, that was a hit.
08:14Take another long cast up that way.
08:16Maybe he's got some amigos here.
08:19Great shot.
08:19Are these fish still part of the first wave, I wonder?
08:25Or has an invasion already become an occupation?
08:30They're here, and they're not going to stop them.
08:33They're not going to stop these fish.
08:35They seem to love these shallow areas, especially when you get some weeds piled up so they can get up underneath the weeds.
08:41Did you see that?
08:42Yeah, light drop, light drop.
08:44And set the hole.
08:45Yeah, that is a fish hole.
08:49That one came out right from the side, didn't it?
09:13That came out four or five feet.
09:15This wake just arrowing out.
09:25I've hooked my first snakehead.
09:28And what it lacks in size, it more than makes up for with attitude.
09:32Oh!
09:33Oh!
09:34There we go.
09:38That's it.
09:40Oh!
09:40A bullseye snakehead.
09:45So now I've actually got my hands on one of these things, I can see why it's called a snakehead.
09:49Very long, thin, still muscular fish.
09:52I think very often, you know, fish which are long and quite snake-like, you know, do give quite strong fights.
09:58And this particular one is called a bullseye snakehead.
10:02It's got this eye spot on the tail.
10:04Have a look inside the mouth.
10:06There we go.
10:07That's definitely the mouth of a predator.
10:09All those teeth there.
10:11And it's not just smaller fish that it eats.
10:12It eats things like frogs.
10:13I mean, that's what I was using, an imitation frog, but also things like lizards, rats, even small ducks.
10:19These fish are clearly carnivorous.
10:21But do they deserve their reputation for extreme aggression?
10:33It's very easy to go on the internet, and just in a matter of a few minutes, you can find stuff like this.
10:38These are clips put up by people who keep pet snakeheads, and this is what happens when they feed them live fish.
10:45Just like pet snakes, these predatory fish prefer their food alive.
10:51When they strike, it just happens too fast to see it, and it's certainly too fast for the small fish to take any avoiding action.
11:04People always talk about predators being aggressive, but I mean, most predators actually kill for a reason.
11:08They need food.
11:09But these fish here, they just seem to kill as a reflex.
11:12They'll bite something in half, and then just leave it to die.
11:15I'm used to fishing for predators, but actually seeing the moment of the strike like this in lurid close-up, I have to say, is pretty gruesome.
11:26They really do seem to be natural-born killers.
11:30These pet snakeheads are mere minnows.
11:33Just imagine what a 40-pounder could do to a child or a dog.
11:37Looking at these clips really begs the question, who set these violent offenders loose in America, and why?
11:471220, this is the 1950, 203, do the request.
11:52Lieutenant Pat Reynolds keeps a close eye on the illegal wildlife trade in South Florida, and was called in to investigate.
11:59I think they're getting a delivery of saltwater products here.
12:04The guy has a game fish in the back of his tribe, and you cannot sell it.
12:10When this fish was first found in the waterways here, what was your involvement then, leading on from that?
12:15I was alerted by our fishery biologist.
12:17They suspected very strongly that these were released, particularly in the oriental trade or the Asian trade.
12:26Quite frankly, the first store I went into had them, and we tracked them back to New York City.
12:33They were coming in through New York, brought down here by an oriental wholesaler who was distributing them to the markets.
12:40I inspect the airport in Miami, and yes, they did come in.
12:44We made arrests, and we seized the fish.
12:46Possessing a live snakehead can now land you in jail.
12:50But you're allowed to catch and even sell these fish if you put them on ice.
12:53Yes. Snakeheads are highly prized by many Asian Americans, and not just because they taste good.
13:00How much did they go for?
13:01We sell about $15 or $20 a piece.
13:04Oh, $15 or $20 each?
13:06When we sell it.
13:07When you sell it.
13:08What they believe is a medical purpose, especially when people have the operation.
13:14They said after they eat the soup, it helps them to recover.
13:19Helps the healing process.
13:21That's why the people will pay for that price.
13:24Yeah.
13:24We believe they were intentionally released with the idea that an entrepreneur, a businessman, was going to go catch them and sell them into this trade.
13:34So not somebody keeping one in a tank and it's just too big or they get bored with them and in the water.
13:38No, somebody intentionally put them out there so they could go harvest them later.
13:43And they wouldn't have to import it from New York.
13:46Here's what we tell everybody.
13:48If you catch them, because they are good eating, don't throw it back.
13:50Put it on ice, take it home and eat it.
13:52Soon after they arrived here, snakeheads caught the imagination of filmmakers.
14:05The alien invaders were cast as slithering assassins.
14:11As superfish that could somehow crawl out of the water and attack dogs or unsuspecting humans.
14:18It's easy to dismiss this movie monster as pure fantasy.
14:25And yet, remarkably, much of it is based on fact.
14:29Some of the traits that the media picked up on are true.
14:32The fish can survive out of water.
14:35Some of them can move over land.
14:37They do have high levels of aggression.
14:43Does this mean that snakeheads could, under certain conditions, become...
14:48the backyard predators of our nightmares?
14:59Aside from fish, which other dangerous river monster have I recently encountered?
15:03Was it...
15:04A. An 18-foot croc
15:06B. A 3-ton hippo
15:08Or C. A hungry grizzly
15:11Aside from fish, which other dangerous river monster have I recently encountered?
15:19The answer is all three.
15:21But if anything's going to flip my boat, it'll be the hippo.
15:32I've seen how aggressive snakeheads can be in water.
15:36But could these fish ever live up to their billing in the movies
15:40and launch an attack on land?
15:47Fish biologist Ray Waldner has studied snakeheads in detail.
15:52It is an air breather.
15:54It can use atmospheric oxygen.
15:57You'll see the fish come up to the surface
15:59and literally lift its head up a little bit,
16:01grab a mouthful of air, and then submerge again.
16:05Snakeheads have a special chamber above the gills
16:08that acts as a simple lung.
16:11When it gulps air,
16:12oxygen diffuses into an encircling mesh of blood vessels.
16:16If they're in a very stagnant area
16:19where the oxygen levels in the water are very, very low,
16:23the fish are still able to survive.
16:25So they can survive under conditions
16:26that would definitely kill other fishes.
16:28But it also allows the fish to live out of the water.
16:36So far, so Hollywood.
16:39But are snakeheads mobile enough to threaten anyone on land?
16:44A few years ago, Paul Scharflund brought some back to his lab
16:48and put them to the test.
16:51He's moving, OK?
16:53But he's not making a real directional movement.
16:56Most of the time, they sat like this,
17:00with a little bit of flipping,
17:02but the snakehead has just soft pectorals.
17:06It doesn't have a way to support itself.
17:10They seem to burn out pretty quick.
17:14Experts agree that some snakeheads do travel across land.
17:18In areas with seasonal flooding,
17:21it enables them to spread into new lakes and rivers.
17:24The patio-prowling monster, however,
17:27looks suspiciously like a myth.
17:31In their element,
17:33I've seen that snakeheads hit fast and hit hard.
17:36They are very aggressive.
17:38Anything that comes close, they will tear into.
17:40Leaving aside any possible threat to people,
17:43I'm starting to wonder what happens to other animals
17:46when the fish equivalent of special forces suddenly turns up.
17:50I don't think there's much around that they probably wouldn't go after.
17:54Undoubtedly, the snakeheads are feeding on these native fishes,
17:57such as bass and sunfish.
17:59The crappies that we have here, golden shiners,
18:02I think all of those are fair game,
18:05and there are numerous others as well.
18:07If there's anything that's a little bit different
18:09about the bullseye snakehead's feeding habits
18:13is the breadth of foods that it will take.
18:18If something is close enough to it
18:20and it can get it in its mouth, it'll eat it.
18:23This is a stomach from a bullseye snakehead.
18:28This is a tilapia.
18:30They'll also eat native fish.
18:32There's two mosquito fish in there.
18:35This is a crayfish that was in a stomach.
18:38This is the marine toad.
18:40They've even had a snake.
18:42And as you can see, the whole snake was eating.
18:45This is actually a cannibalistic snakehead.
18:48This is a juvenile snakehead.
18:51There's even been some turtles.
18:53The breath is very interesting.
18:57Snakeheads are starting to sound like eco-monsters,
19:01invaders with the power to mow down everything in their path.
19:07In the snakehead, we've got a fish
19:09that could be potentially devastating.
19:10The danger is to the native fish's native aquatic species.
19:16That's where the problem lies.
19:18Snakeheads, it seems, hold all the aces.
19:20Not only can they thrive in stagnant water,
19:24but females are able to produce 100,000 young per year.
19:29And it gets worse.
19:31My main concern comes because snakeheads show very extreme parental care.
19:36They vehemently, aggressively guard their spawn
19:40and will voraciously attack anything that comes close to them,
19:44anything that poses a threat.
19:45With such fertile and protective parents,
19:48snakeheads have the potential to multiply rapidly.
19:51What's more, few native predators are willing to take on an adult snakehead,
19:57so there's little to keep them in check.
20:01Nothing more than an earth bank now stands
20:04between Florida's snakehead infestation
20:06and the Everglades National Park,
20:09a vital refuge for endangered wildlife.
20:12How far these predators will spread is anyone's guess.
20:29But there is another alien invader
20:32that some people fear offers a disturbing preview
20:35of where the snakehead story is heading.
20:37It's a fish that's having quite an impact.
20:53In Florida, I've found that snakeheads
20:55are aggressive, air-breathing predators
20:57that'll eat pretty much everything on the menu.
21:00Now, I head north to the Illinois River
21:04to witness what happens
21:05when an alien invader does run riot.
21:10Skipper and research scientist Greg Sass
21:12isn't taking any chances.
21:15What's the idea behind the net?
21:16This gives one little bit of defence for the driver
21:19as to try to protect himself.
21:21OK, and what happened there?
21:22Occasionally, we get such large ones
21:24that come up into the net with such force
21:26that they'll actually blow a hole right through it.
21:2840 years ago, catfish farmers in the south
21:33imported a fish from China
21:35to clean up waste from the breeding ponds.
21:38Before long, some escaped into the wild
21:41and began spreading north
21:42through the Mississippi River system.
21:45Like snakeheads today,
21:46they weren't an obvious problem at first.
21:49Then, almost overnight, they became a plague.
21:54Just absolutely full of fish down here.
21:58Nice, flat, calm surface,
22:01but there's loads of them down there.
22:02Quite a fish soup, in fact.
22:06It's not until Greg accelerates, though,
22:09that the show begins.
22:13These are silver carp,
22:15and at up to 40 pounds,
22:17they're a serious danger
22:19to anyone in an open boat.
22:22Quite literally,
22:22they've smashed people's ribs
22:24and knocked people overboard.
22:31Seeing these as dots on the sonar
22:33is one thing,
22:34but just the noise of our motor
22:35provokes this mass escape response.
22:42There's up to 13 tons of these fish
22:45for every mile in the river.
22:47And that's hundreds of miles.
22:49They go all the way down
22:50to the mouth of the Mississippi.
22:52Just 10 years ago,
22:54the carp were virtually unknown here.
22:56Now, they've all but taken over.
23:03Ah!
23:10Absolutely stiff with fish.
23:12There we go.
23:12Look at this.
23:13There's more silver than green
23:14in the water, though.
23:18I actually feel the boat being buffeted
23:19as they're banging into it.
23:33Whoops.
23:36So, who needs a rod?
23:38These things just jump into the boat.
23:39The real key to the success of this fish
23:42is in here.
23:44So, there's the red of the gill filaments
23:45and then in front of that,
23:47that is basically a filter
23:48and nothing really gets through that.
23:50That filters down to objects
23:52the size of four microns.
23:54That's, you know, a speck of dust.
23:56It's a bit like us feeding
23:57every time we breathe, basically.
23:59So, that's why these things
24:00are putting on the weight.
24:01And by just removing everything
24:02from the water,
24:03they're leaving nothing
24:03for the native species
24:04like buffalo,
24:05which are also filter feeders,
24:06but they're just not as good at it
24:07as these chaps are.
24:08So, those native species,
24:10they're gradually losing weight.
24:12And, you know,
24:13if they get too thin,
24:14then they're not able to breed.
24:15And that's just why
24:16these things are taking over.
24:20As they put the squeeze
24:21on native fishes,
24:23the carp are also knocking out
24:24an entire fishing industry.
24:27If a filter feeder
24:28can cause such damage,
24:30then what about
24:30a hardcore predator?
24:33Are snakeheads,
24:34like the silver carp,
24:36also destined to explode
24:38out of control?
24:39My guess is we're going to see
24:41some real problems arise
24:42in the next several years
24:43from snakeheads
24:44both competing with
24:46and preying upon
24:47our native fishes.
24:49The fish had the potential
24:50to absolutely take over.
24:53Between them,
24:54the bullseye
24:54and northern snakeheads
24:56have what it takes
24:57to overrun most
24:58of North America.
24:59If they do,
25:01then fisheries
25:01worth over $30 billion
25:03to the economy
25:04could take a massive hit.
25:07And it doesn't end here.
25:09A third,
25:10much larger member
25:11of the gang
25:12has been turning up
25:13sporadically
25:14from Maine
25:14down to Arkansas.
25:17The giant snakehead
25:18is a beast
25:19that can weigh
25:20as much as a five-year-old child.
25:22And it comes
25:23with a nasty reputation.
25:25I've heard stories
25:27of the giant snakehead
25:28attacking humans
25:30and even a case
25:31of one individual
25:33being killed
25:33by a giant snakehead.
25:35To track down
25:36this would-be invader
25:37and find out
25:38if it really is
25:39as dangerous
25:40as people say,
25:41I must travel
25:42to the far side
25:43of the world.
25:45I'm in Thailand
25:47and I waste no time
25:48heading up country.
25:51My destination
25:52is a place
25:53called Khao Lam,
25:54a remote dam
25:55on the upper reaches
25:56of the River Kwai,
25:57close to the Burmese border.
26:01This is prime
26:02snakehead habitat
26:03and I've come here
26:04in the middle
26:05of the monsoon,
26:06just when the fish
26:07are at their most aggressive.
26:09It's their breeding season
26:10and they're said
26:11to attack anything
26:12that comes close
26:13to their fry,
26:14including people.
26:18Yet the giant snakehead
26:20is also a popular food fish.
26:23Many people here
26:24farm them to sell.
26:25Snakehead
26:29really do lend
26:30themselves to this type
26:31of business,
26:31this type of culture.
26:32They are really,
26:33really tolerant
26:33to low oxygen levels
26:35in the water
26:35and you can see
26:36they're coming up
26:36to the air,
26:37they're blowing out
26:38the spent air
26:39and taking another gulp
26:41and also they look
26:42very pretty.
26:42They look very pretty
26:43when they're small
26:44and you can absolutely
26:45understand why people
26:46will want to have those
26:47in their aquarium
26:48in Florida,
26:48for example.
26:50Even in these
26:51cramped conditions,
26:52the giant snakehead fry
26:53are thriving.
26:55By one month
26:56they've doubled in size
26:57and are growing
26:58ever more hungry
26:59for flesh.
27:02Breakfast is pulped fish
27:04but this ravenous swarm
27:06has never been hand fed
27:07so it's going to be
27:09a test of nerve
27:10for them
27:10as well as for me.
27:14I've watched snakeheads
27:16not much bigger
27:16than these
27:17rip into finger-sized fish.
27:21There's one or two pecking,
27:22there's one or two...
27:23Right up to late
27:36juvenile stage
27:37these snakeheads
27:38school and feed together.
27:41The stories I've read
27:42of voracious packs
27:44are starting to make sense.
27:49I've come to Thailand
27:51to find out
27:51if the giant snakehead
27:53really does attack people
27:54and within a day
27:56of arriving here
27:57I track down a man
27:59bearing the scars
28:00of a bloody encounter.
28:13All the reports
28:14of snakehead attacks
28:15on humans
28:16concern just one species,
28:19the giant snakehead.
28:20Like many people here,
28:22Sombat lives by the water
28:24and often encounters
28:25these aggressive fish.
28:27Oh, pardon me.
28:28What happened
28:29was that he needed
28:30to swim underneath his raft
28:32to replace some of the bamboo,
28:33it gets a bit rotten.
28:36It's as he's fixing his raft
28:38that Sombat senses
28:39something behind him.
28:42With nowhere to hide,
28:44he's face to face
28:45with a giant snakehead.
28:46It actually put its fins out
28:49a bit like an elephant
28:49when an elephant
28:50is threatening to charge.
28:58Before Sombat can move,
29:00the fish has savaged his foot.
29:03It was actually bleeding so bad
29:05that he went to the hospital.
29:06The people there
29:07didn't believe
29:07that it was a fish
29:08that was responsible.
29:09They thought it was a dog
29:10and actually ended up
29:11giving him rabies jab.
29:12So, I mean,
29:13what we've got here
29:14is a very dramatic example
29:16of what appears to be
29:17a completely unprovoked attack.
29:21Sombat's story
29:22proves to me
29:23that a giant snakehead
29:25will attack something
29:26far bigger than itself.
29:28It seems to be a fish
29:29that really does
29:30punch well above its weight.
29:32Like its cousin,
29:38the bullseye,
29:39the giant snakehead
29:40is an ambush predator
29:41that favours areas
29:42with plenty of cover.
29:52For several hours,
29:53I worked the banks
29:54and shallow bays
29:55of the dam
29:55without getting
29:56so much as a nibble.
29:59Fishing for snakeheads here
30:01is a world away
30:02from Florida
30:03where the hits
30:04came thick and fast.
30:06With Sombat's story
30:07still fresh in my mind,
30:09I send a lure
30:09towards an abandoned raft.
30:13Oh, yes!
30:31Whee!
30:33A giant snakehead.
30:35Whoa!
30:37This fish
30:38is only one-tenth
30:40the size
30:40of a full-grown adult,
30:42but it's certainly
30:43got some attitude.
30:44Very toothy.
30:45I wonder if I can just
30:46get my hand in there.
30:48Its snake-like appearance
30:49has led to the belief
30:51in some places
30:51that this fish
30:52has a poisonous bite.
30:55Fortunately,
30:55this simply isn't true.
30:57That is, yeah,
31:00that is a bit
31:00of a toothy critter.
31:02Although it's got
31:02a fierce reputation,
31:03quite a beautiful fish, really.
31:16I've hand-fed
31:17the carnivorous fry
31:18and been snapped at
31:20by a bolshee juvenile,
31:21but everyone here
31:23tells me
31:23that if I want
31:24to catch the daddy,
31:26then I must first
31:26pay a visit
31:27to the man
31:28who knows how.
31:30To find this
31:31snakehead guru,
31:33I travel deeper
31:34into Kowlem's
31:35muddy backwaters.
31:38Kun Da
31:39is the master hunter.
31:41Over the past
31:4120 years,
31:42he's gained
31:43an unrivaled knowledge
31:44of his quarry.
31:46Forget nets
31:47or rods.
31:49For Da,
31:50catching a giant snakehead
31:51is more like
31:52armed combat.
31:54And his weapon
31:54of choice
31:55is the spear gun.
31:57The problem
31:58with this spear gun
31:59is that it takes
31:59a long time
32:00to reload.
32:01So Kun Da
32:02has actually invented
32:03his own
32:03rapid reload
32:04spear,
32:06which is
32:06much simpler
32:07but much more
32:08effective.
32:10The key feature
32:11of Da's
32:12homemade gun
32:13is that he can
32:13rearm it quickly.
32:15As he explains,
32:16this is crucial
32:17when you're hunting
32:18a fish
32:18that defends
32:19in pairs.
32:20Unusually for a fish,
32:27snakeheads
32:27fiercely guard
32:28their young.
32:30But Da's
32:31own close
32:32quarter observations
32:33add a further
32:33twist to the story.
32:36While the father
32:37corrals the cluster
32:38of fry,
32:39the mother
32:40patrols at a distance,
32:42primed to attack
32:42anything that looks
32:43like a threat
32:44to her offspring.
32:45What's interesting
32:47is that this
32:48is coming
32:48from somebody
32:49who is actually
32:50observing these
32:51creatures closer
32:52than any scientist
32:53and the reason
32:54for that
32:54is not only
32:55his livelihood
32:55but possibly
32:56his life
32:56depends on it.
33:02Da knows
33:03that if he shoots
33:04one snakehead
33:05he still has
33:06to watch
33:06his back.
33:10Hunting
33:11for these
33:11aggressive animals
33:12in murky water
33:13is fraught
33:14with danger.
33:15And as I'm
33:16about to discover
33:17these fish
33:18don't hesitate
33:19to fight back.
33:20stories of people
33:34being mauled
33:35by snakeheads
33:36are not uncommon
33:37around here
33:38but now I've
33:39picked up
33:40a more disturbing
33:41lead.
33:42I cross to the
33:43far side of
33:44Kowlem Dam
33:45just 12 miles
33:46from Burma.
33:48People sometimes
33:48slip across the
33:49border to fish
33:50here for a day
33:51or two
33:51then melt back
33:52into the jungle
33:53with their catch.
33:56I'm used
33:57to tall tales
33:58but the story
33:58I'm about to hear
33:59is so freakish
34:00that no one
34:01could possibly
34:02have made it up.
34:06Thai fisherman
34:07Khun Lang
34:08vividly recalls
34:09the Burmese couple
34:10that came here
34:10three years ago
34:11to hunt snakeheads.
34:20and the fish
34:21then just kept on coming
34:33and shoved the rear end
34:34was that the fisherman was under the water with his spear gun,
34:38shot the snake in head-on, and actually scored a direct hit.
34:43The fish then just kept on coming
34:45and shoved the rear end of the metal spear
34:49through the fisherman's mask and into his face.
34:55The fish was just panicking so much, it was thrashing.
34:59The fish doesn't have a reverse gear, it just kept flapping.
35:01Apparently the spear actually came out the back of the man's head.
35:12The wife was still sitting in the boat,
35:14dived down into the water and found the fisherman dead.
35:24Well, I actually came here doubting these stories,
35:26you know, doubting that this fish
35:28has actually been responsible for any fatalities
35:30and here we have a very graphic case of a snake causing a human fatality.
35:37I've deliberately timed my trip here to coincide with the giant snakehead's breeding season.
35:50This is when the fish are at their most aggressive
35:52as they guard their young against all comers.
35:54A fleeting ripple shows me where the fry have just surfaced to gulp air.
36:01By dropping my lure right on top of them, I'm trying to provoke a strike from one of the parents.
36:08But it seems that these canny adults know all about fishing lures.
36:15The only snakehead that has a go is a ten inch juvenile.
36:19Small snakehead.
36:31With the rain beating down, it soon becomes impossible to spot the fry as they surface,
36:36let alone get the attention of the parents.
36:38I'm trying to create a disturbance on the surface to wind the fish up.
36:44When the water's calm, you've got no competition.
36:47It's the only thing making a noise.
36:49When you've got rain falling on the water, the signal's very confused.
36:53You've got to land that bait much closer to the fish to get them to notice it.
36:57The weather isn't about to let up.
37:00But worse than this, and for reasons that aren't made clear,
37:04I've just been told that I'm not allowed to fish here anymore.
37:08So if I'm ever going to get face to face with this monster,
37:11I'm going to have to pack away my rods and do it another way.
37:19I return to Kundar, the master hunter.
37:27My plan is to dive with him, as he goes after the giant snakehead
37:32with nothing more than a pair of old goggles and a homemade spear gun.
37:37In these choppy conditions, I'm straining to spot the surfacing fry.
37:42Yet Kundar's predatory eye picks out the slight ripple that gives them away.
37:48And with our target pinpointed, the hunt can begin.
37:57I'm getting a bit nervous. It is totally another world down there.
38:04By diving with a small camera, I hope to capture the entire drama as it unfolds.
38:13Everything has to happen on a single breath.
38:16So before going under, we edge as close as we can to our target.
38:19But when Dar suddenly slips in and vanishes without trace,
38:34he leaves me scrambling to catch up.
38:35Bad weather has churned the water into a murky soup.
38:46And with Dar gone, I feel a stab of panic.
38:50I could easily wind up getting harpooned by mistake.
38:53The poor visibility is even hampering Dar.
39:04It's murky down there. It's murky.
39:09I'm having second thoughts about this.
39:12I'm starting to feel like human bait.
39:15But it's too late to pull out now.
39:18Dar is a man on a mission.
39:20When the fry break the surface barely a boat length away, we launch again.
39:39But our quarry has vanished into the murk, leaving Dar to hunt on instinct.
39:50Dar loads. I can sense we're close.
39:51Suddenly, we're in the heart of the swarm.
39:53Dar loads. I can sense we're close.
39:54Suddenly, we're in the heart of the swarm.
40:11Dar loads. I can sense we're close.
40:18Suddenly, we're in the heart of the swarm.
40:23I think we've got one.
40:26I'm going to keep out of the way. I'm going to keep out of the way.
40:29With a single, well-aimed shot, Dar has caught a giant snake head.
40:46Sitting in a boat, dangling a line over the edge, believe me, is easy in comparison.
40:57Despite taking a direct hit, the fish simply seems to shrug it off.
41:02Oops, it wasn't like that.
41:03Having listened to accounts of its aggressive behaviour, and seen for myself the scars on Sombat's foot, I'm well aware of what this river monster is capable of.
41:17So there we go.
41:21But that wonderful black and white colouration, that is very much something that the fry will identify with.
41:26Bright colour, it's calling to them.
41:28I expected this fish to end up as dinner. Yet in a strange twist of fate, it's almost unharmed.
41:37Dar's spear has pierced the muscle of its back, but missed its vital organs.
41:41We're actually going to release this fish. This is catch-and-release spearfishing.
41:48Very nice that this is going to go back, and it is going to recover.
41:51Just hoping it doesn't double back and have a go at me as a last farewell.
41:56She's actually free now, she can go if she wants.
42:03There she goes.
42:04Well, it's actually gone. Gone back into the lake to be reunited with the young.
42:09So, really good to see. You don't expect to see that from a fish caught on a spear.
42:20Of all the encounters I've had with dangerous fish, this had to be one of the most unnerving.
42:25Down in that murky water, I could hardly see anything.
42:28I didn't know if I was going to be attacked by the fish, or maybe even end up myself on the end of Kundar's spear.
42:35But over the course of my journey, a clearer picture of the snakehead has emerged.
42:40The two species that have reached America pose no direct threat to humans.
42:44Although, in the eyes of many, their presence is an unfolding environmental disaster.
42:50But, in Southeast Asia, I have found a fish that does deserve to be called a monster.
42:55The word made flesh.
42:58This animal is already knocking on America's door.
43:00If the giant snakehead ever gains a foothold in America, then you really would have to think twice about getting in the water.
43:07Want more of the world's wildest, strangest, and most terrifying freshwater horrors?
43:20Visit our website at animalplanet.com slash rivermonsters.
Be the first to comment