Recent range expansion and documentation of a reproductive population of northern snakehead Channa argus (Cantor, 1842) in the Saint Francis River Drainage, Missouri

Abstract

Northern snakehead Channa argus (Cantor, 1842) is an aquatic invasive fish species in the United States with first documented occurrence in the wild in the 2000s. Management efforts to control their populations in the eastern United States are ongoing. In the Mississippi River basin, limited resources have been allocated to control its distribution, after initial detection and rapid response in Arkansas were unsuccessful. Northern snakehead distribution in the Mississippi River basin was limited to Arkansas and Mississippi until 2019 when a single northern snakehead was detected on the southern border of Missouri in the Saint Francis River drainage, the furthest northern detection. Described here are additional northern snakehead detections following public reports and subsequent monitoring in the Mingo basin of the Saint Francis River drainage, a historical braided channel and floodplain habitat of the Mississippi River with intermittently flooded bottomland hardwood forests and wetlands, and other consistent aquatic habitats. These increasing captures document the recent range expansion of northern snakehead. Most of the 11,300 ha Mingo basin consists of Mingo National Wildlife Refuge and Duck Creek Conservation Area; these areas are protected aquatic ecosystems possessing sensitive species and serve as a potential example of prioritized areas for northern snakehead control efforts. Additionally, we highlight the significance of these detections in the Mingo basin which is connected via the Castor River water-control structure to the Upper Mississippi River and may facilitate further range expansion.