# Stoney Creek



## dena (Jun 20, 2010)

A fish kill hit Stoney Creek over night.
This morning there were dead fish of all types floating belly up. Menhaden, Perch, Shad, Pickerel and Hog Chokers were all to be seem. The fish were mainly menhaden.
Many other living fish were swimming right on the surface, and crabs were right on the shore.

Also, on the community boat ramp were baby Snakeheads by the dozens. At least I don't know what other type of fish these could be. They were only about 2" long, but had distinctive stripes going from backbone to belly, and had the long fin that went all the way to the tail.

The fish kill was generally upstream from the Stoney Creek Drawbridge.


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## Stinky_Pete (Mar 28, 2011)

dena said:


> A fish kill hit Stoney Creek over night.
> This morning there were dead fish of all types floating belly up. Menhaden, Perch, Shad, Pickerel and Hog Chokers were all to be seem. The fish were mainly menhaden.
> Many other living fish were swimming right on the surface, and crabs were right on the shore.
> 
> ...


Baby snakeheads???? Good lord, didn't you and I scoff at someone else for this claim??? Ouch! I like being wrong!


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## Stinky_Pete (Mar 28, 2011)

Sorry to hear about the fish kill.....expect a lot more this year due to the sewage spill.


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## catman (May 28, 2001)

dena said:


> .................Also, on the community boat ramp were baby Snakeheads by the dozens. At least I don't know what other type of fish these could be. They were only about 2" long, but had distinctive stripes going from backbone to belly, and had the long fin that went all the way to the tail.


WOW! Baby SH's in Stoney Creek. Maybe some day soon I'll see them in Middle River.


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## Tracker16 (Feb 16, 2009)

Man that sucks Lived in Elizabeths Landing for years and never saw that bummer


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## dena (Jun 20, 2010)

These were only an inch or two long, and I don't know what else they could be.
I am between Elizabeth Landing, and the SC Drawbridge.
Let me see if any of my pictures came out, and I can figure out how to post them here.


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## Stinky_Pete (Mar 28, 2011)

dena said:


> These were only an inch or two long, and I don't know what else they could be.
> I am between Elizabeth Landing, and the SC Drawbridge.
> Let me see if any of my pictures came out, and I can figure out how to post them here.



Upload them here and save them on-line.

http://www.freeonlinephotoeditor.com/

Then click the little tree icon above and paste it to the bar.


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## dena (Jun 20, 2010)

Lets try this>


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## Stinky_Pete (Mar 28, 2011)

Hey, nice limes!!!


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## dena (Jun 20, 2010)

I never said I was computer literate.
Just a little slow on the uptake.
Why does it have to be so damn hard, other sites I can upload direct from my puter.


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## dena (Jun 20, 2010)

Anyway, are those Snakeheads, or not?
Pete, I don't know if we ridiculed the other poster, but we said it was news to us. Maybe we were scooped, but the 1st photos of what may be the Stoney Creek Snakeheads gotta be worth something, right?

The weird thing about this fish kill is that the water has really cleared up in the last few days. That is why I decided to take my first yak trip for the year today, and this mess is what I find. I would have expected the fish kill to have happened when the water looked like chocolate milk.


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## Stinky_Pete (Mar 28, 2011)

Yup.....,.baby snakeheads!


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## Stinky_Pete (Mar 28, 2011)

Send pics to the DNR for official conformation. This is big. Real big.


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## Stinky_Pete (Mar 28, 2011)

Good job!


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## dena (Jun 20, 2010)

Stinky_Pete said:


> Send pics to the DNR for official conformation. This is big. Real big.


Done. I will post if I get a reply from them.
I talked to the DNR guy today about the fish kill, but neglected to mention the possible SH sightings. I see him regularly because he uses the marina across the creek. I'll be sure to ask him next time.


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## triggerfish76 (Mar 11, 2011)

If they are not baby snakeheads they may be gobies.


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## Tracker16 (Feb 16, 2009)

I think it looks like an Oyster cracker aka Toad fish with that wide flat head and the eyes set wide. They have a tail similar to a snakehead too


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## Tracker16 (Feb 16, 2009)

Check this link out the pictures look real similar

http://www.flickr.com/photos/wfsumedia/6106760034/


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## Stinky_Pete (Mar 28, 2011)

Toads don't come up this far.


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## dena (Jun 20, 2010)

They do look similar.
My e-mail to the DNR got rejected for being too big. I have to resize the pictures, and resend it.

I am glad I did not do the kill on sight thing on those baby fish if they are not SHs.


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## Tracker16 (Feb 16, 2009)

Stinky people say Bulls don't either. There are no absolutes. Not saying I'm right just putting what looks like a good possibility out there


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## Stinky_Pete (Mar 28, 2011)

Tracker16 said:


> Stinky people say Bulls don't either. There are no absolutes. Not saying I'm right just putting what looks like a good possibility out there



 "Stinky people?"


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## Hysteresis (Oct 20, 2010)

I don't know what that little fish in the picture is, but it does not look like a baby snakehead to me by comparing it to many baby snakehead pictures I can find in the internet.


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## surfnsam (Apr 28, 2008)

sorry to hear about the fish kill. spent many a day in the kayak fishing from the bridge to up past and beyond elizabeths landing


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## catman (May 28, 2001)

I enlarged the pic 400% and zeroed in on the tail. There's absolutely no webbing on the end. As soon as I saw the pic the 1st thing that came to mind was toad tadpole. Now I'm 100% sure that it is indeed a toad and not a fish,


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## catman (May 28, 2001)

Actually it is a toad fish.


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## Tracker16 (Feb 16, 2009)

Stinky_Pete said:


> "Stinky people?"


Sorry I meant Stinky_Pete, People etc...


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## dena (Jun 20, 2010)

Could have been a big tadpole.
The thing was only 2" or so long.
Do toads live in brackish water?

I got a standard reply e-mail from the DNR saying they will get back to me with the answer to my question, which was, Is this a baby Snakehead?
We'll just have to wait and see what the official word is.


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## Stinky_Pete (Mar 28, 2011)

I think that I was now wrong about the SH. Yes, the head seems a little too wide. SH eyes on that size fish are closer together.


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## dena (Jun 20, 2010)

None to be seen today at the ramp.
The water sure stinks of dead fish.
Carcases everywhere, but no gulls, or other birds eating them.


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## dena (Jun 20, 2010)

I got a reply from a Mr Keith Lockwood.
Here it is. The fish were Naked Gobies.

thank you for sending in the pictures so I could make a positive ID on the fish. They are called naked gobies and they live among oyster shells and bottom debris; they reach a maximum size of about 2” to 3”. We had a report this morning from someone at the same boat ramp and we guessed they were gobies and your pictures confirm it.



Keith Lockwood

Recreational Fisheries Outreach

Cooperative Oxford Laboratory

904 South Morris St.

Oxford, MD 21654

410-226-0078, ext 107


That answers my question. I am glad I didn't think they were snakeheads, and wipe out stoney Creeks Gobi population.

Did someone mention Goby earlier in the thread?
I wish I had a prize to give that man, but I don't
He will just have to live with the satisfaction of being right.


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## Stinky_Pete (Mar 28, 2011)

triggerfish76 said:


> If they are not baby snakeheads they may be gobies.


The winner!


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## Tracker16 (Feb 16, 2009)

Ok Stinky_Pete called it right. Congrats!! at least they are not SH's .Nasty critters. I can't stand the look of them YUK


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## dena (Jun 20, 2010)

Triggerfish76 is the resident fish ID expert.
I bow to your knowledge.


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