Strange Find by Bryan

Ever see a fish that looks like this? The fish at Bryan's feet was frantically trying to get out of the lake. There was a pretty heavy duty thunderstorm creeping over the Owyhee Mtns. toward us at the time. Seems as though this is standard behavior for these fish when the baromoter takes a sudden plunge; hence the name Oriental Weather Fish. Some people like to keep these fish in their aquarium because they forecast storms. They are of the loach family. Bryan and I were fishing on the shores of Halverson Lake (http://www.canyonco.org/parks.aspx?id=846) when Bryan looked down and saw this weird looking fish. He was thinking that he may have seen his first Snake Fish. We collected it and I brought it home to identify. I called Mark Sands, our area conservation officer, and started to describe it. He finished the description. I asked him if he wanted to see it, but he said no. He knew what it was but could not think of the name off hand. He called the state office first thing the next morning to get the name. He said that Charlie Daniels had found one in the drainage ditch across the street from his house four years ago. They are now throughout the lower Snake River valley. They most likely have been dumped by owners of aquariums who are moving and have no one to give their fish to so they dump them in some nearby body of water. These fish manage to survive and can grow to 20 inches. They are natives of Asia and Africa. The Idaho F and G is not too worried about them because they don't compete for food with our popular game fish. In fact they probably provide a meal for bass. The loach is an edible fish, but then so is the carp. I talked to Charlie about his finding of the fish. He said that he put it in a jar and took it to a regional public meeting held by the Fish and Game. Turns out that he was the only citizen to attend the public meeting. His fish caused quite a concern at that time because our fisherery people had not seen an Oriental Weather Fish in Idaho waters yet.

For information Google "dojo loach" or "Oriental Weather Fish"
http://animal-world.com/encyclo/fresh/loaches/DojoLoach.php