Bluegills are invasive to Japan

Hello guys I'm back again
I don't know if this was a joke or something maybe some of you have seen it already http://www.datehooku...read-915603.htm

A quote from the forum:

The keepers of Japan's biggest lake have called on the public to join in one final push to eat the bluegill fish - possibly the most reviled creature in Japan - into extinction before it does the same to threatened native species.
The bluegill's steady destruction of indigenous freshwater fish, almost 50 years after it was touted as a vital source of protein for an undernourished population, is being treated as an ecological emergency and has provoked a rare public show of contrition from Emperor Akihito. As crown prince, Akihito received bluegill as a gift from the then mayor of Chicago, Richard J Daley, during a visit to the US in 1960.

"Bluegills are the ones I brought back from the US almost 50 years ago and donated to a fishers agency research institute," the emperor said earlier this month. "In those days we had great expectations of raising them for food. My heart aches to see it has turned out like this."

Now authorities in Lake Biwa in Shiga prefecture want anglers to stop releasing the fish and instead eat them. Biwa, the world's third-oldest lake, is home to about 1,250 tonnes of bluegill; nationwide, the population is estimated at 25m fish.

They just need to introduce some Largemouth Bass to eat the Bluegills.

They just need to introduce some Largemouth Bass to eat the Bluegills.

Then northern pike to eat the bass.

I heard of other cases of bluegill as invasives in Japan. Apparently they are very devastating to the native gobies and such.

In the US we tend to think of invasives in terms of us only. Things brought to our shores like starlings, house sparrows, nutria, and carp. But we have exported our own destructive invaders ranging from sunfish across Europe and Asia, mummichog in Spain, raccoons in Germany, and grey squirrels in England.

Plus even within the US native fishes can be dangerous invaders in waters they are not originally found in.

Swordtails (native to Mexico and Central America) are also invasive in Japan. My written Japanese isn't so good but from what I gather this video documents a person releasing fish in an attempt to get rid of the invasive swordtails.

Also, Japan does have largemouth bass.

Also, Japan does have largemouth bass.

Also, Japan does have largemouth bass.

Bubba-san is most pleased!

Yeah. I know the "World Record" largemouth was caught in Japan a year or so back.

How do swordtails (a tropical) survive the Japan's frigid winters? I read even Florida's cold spells take a toll on their invasive cichlids.

Edited by ttman, 21 July 2013 - 07:07 AM.

How do swordtails (a tropical) survive the Japan's frigid winters? I read even Florida's cold spells take a toll on their invasive cichlids.

The video I linked to with the swordtails and Kuhlia (ユゴイ) was filmed in Okinawa. Here's a link to the annual weather in Okinawa. http://weatherspark....refecture-Japan You can see the temperature varies from 55 to 90 Fahrenheit and rarely goes below 49 or above 93.

Invasives are annoying when you're hoping to encounter cool natives, no matter where you are in the world.

Bluegill I caught in Fukuoka.


LMB I caught In Okayama.

In Japan the Largemouth Bass has a following of people who love them but they are a destructive invader too. Other people in Japan want them eradicated too, and are upset that the bass anglers have been stocking them in new locations. That sounds familiar.

I heard that the bluegills and LMB pose a threat to the snakeheads of Japan.

Hmmm, we got carp and goldfish..they got bluegill and bass...I think they win this one

What i thinks it is a joke...