bichir-like fish

I saw a small bichir like fish in a inlet of the chesapeake a few months ago and was wondering what and was hoping some of you might be able to identify it. it was about 3-inches long, was banded black and orange, it was swimming on the surface of the water near shore, it was around august and the shore was rocky, I'm not too sure about the salinity but it was near point lookout which is where the potomic meets the chesapeake so I'm assumming it's lower but I'm no expert, and didn't have a salinity gauge (I can't remember the real name) so don't quote me on that. This maybe a shot in the dark without a pic but I might as well try

Edited by AuzzieM, 09 January 2010 - 11:17 PM.

Snakehead maybe I have heard they are in that area, but I'm in Washington state so I could just be blowing smoke.

I would highly highly HIGHLY doubt a snakehead could survive down at Point Lookout. Pretty salty water as far as the Bay goes down there. There is an older "fishes of Ches. Bay" you could take a look at for clues.

How about an inland lizardfish, Synodus foetens?

Lizardfish are generally benthically oriented, though I suppose maybe young ones might be different.

...then again, I can't think of anything off the top of my head that matches the description any better.

The descipetions of the adults doesn't sound like what it looked like it but I couldn't find any pics and no descipetions of the juviniles. A better descipetion of what I saw is the coloration of a banded sea krait but with orange instead of white