The Malaysian Insider :: Features
The Malaysian Insider :: Features |
| Tough? Yes. But snakeheads may not be ecological scourge Posted: 30 May 2013 04:44 AM PDT  A large northern snakehead fish is dissected and filleted by Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries biologists at Pohick Bay, Virginia May 23, 2013. – Reuters pic MOUNT VERNON, May 30 – They're freakishly strong, hungry air-breathers that can survive for short periods on land. But northern snakehead fish, once viewed as an unstoppable scourge in US waters, may have gotten a bad rap. So far, they've surfaced in waters from Massachusetts to California, and from Manhattan's Central Park to a pair of creeks in Arkansas. The biggest cluster is in and around the Chesapeake Bay, and officials in Maryland and Virginia have taken different paths to trying to keep them from interfering with the bay's delicate ecological balance. The threat of the snakehead, which is believed to spawn repeatedly during the year unlike other species that spawn just once, is that it is such a hardy newcomer that it could squeeze out longer-established and more desired fish. Native to China's Yangtze River basin, the so-called "frankenfish" made its first big media splash in the United States in 2002, when a thriving population was discovered in a Maryland pond outside Washington. Known taxonomically as Channa argus or "lightning perch," they were purported to be able to "walk" on land, to wipe out native species and to have no natural predators. Plenty of other non-native fish have thrived in the United States, but few rival the northern snakehead: as long as 30 inches (76 cm) or more, the fish has a large, toothy mouth and can survive for days out of water, squirming and secreting a full-body slime. It is a delicacy in Asia and is gaining a following among chefs in the United States. Virginia fisheries biologist John Odenkirk said intelligent management – not eradication – of the snakehead is his state's goal. So far, the fish have not wreaked havoc with the Potomac River ecosystem, he said on a recent survey trip through Virginia streams. The snakehead population has risen since 2004. But so has the population of large-mouth bass, a prized regional sport fish that brings in US$622 million (RM1.91 billion) a year to Virginia and accounts for more than 5,500 jobs in the state, according to the American Sportfishing Association. "That is one tough fish," Odenkirk said as he pulled in a thrashing, 32-inch long snakehead with an apparent knife gash in its abdomen. The biologist figured the cut was a few days old, probably made by an angler who tossed the wounded fish back into the water. He caught the fish in an estuary of the Potomac, not far from George Washington's estate at Mount Vernon. "As badass as they are, I just don't think he's going to make it," Odenkirk said of the male snakehead, whose entrails protruded from the 5-inch (12.7 cm) cut. Even so, it continued to breathe and move normally. 'IF YOU CATCH ONE ... KILL IT IMMEDIATELY' Reports that the dreaded snakehead had invaded the Harlem Meer in New York's Central Park in April prompted a warning by the state's Department of Environmental Conservation: "If you catch one, DO NOT RELEASE IT. Kill it immediately, freeze it and report your catch." A similar warning is posted on Maryland's Department of Natural Resources website. Maryland manages the snakehead differently than Virginia, which prohibits commercial sales to avoid creating a market for the fish. Maryland encourages sales, maintaining that eating snakehead gives other fish a chance. John Rorapaugh, director of sustainability at ProFish, a Washington seafood wholesaler, said his company pays US$4 to US$5 a pound for snakeheads, compared to US$.50 to US$1 for catfish. The snakehead's mild flavour and firm texture make it a chef's favourite, he said. Snakeheads' numbers are increasing, even as myths about them are dispelled. Media reports of them "walking" are exaggerated, though they can slither onto land. And Odenkirk dismissed the notion that they have no natural predators. Snakehead young, if left unguarded, are easy prey for ospreys and eagles, he said. Odenkirk said it is still unclear how damaging snakeheads are to their US environments. Paul Angermeier, a fisheries research scientist at the US Geological Survey, agreed. "It's still quite early," said Angermeier, who is based at Virginia Tech. "A decade or so isn't long for an invading population to really wreak havoc on things." So far, that hasn't happened, he said. – Reuters |
| Italy professor says has found world’s oldest complete Torah Posted: 29 May 2013 06:05 PM PDT
Mauro Perani, professor of Hebrew at the University of Bologna, said experts and carbon dating tests done in Italy and the United States dated the scroll as having been made between 1155 and 1225. The scroll, which has been in the possession of the Bologna University Library for more than 100 years, had been previously thought to be from the 17th century. It had been labelled "scroll 2". There are many fragments of the Torah that are older but not complete scrolls with all five books. "A Jew who was a librarian at the university examined the scroll in 1889 for a catalogue and wrote '17th century followed by a question mark'," Perani said in a telephone interview. But in preparation for a new catalogue of the university's Judaica collection, Perani, 63, studied the scroll and suspected that the librarian had made too cursory an examination in 1889 and not recognised its antiquity. "I realised that the style of the writing was older than the 17th century so I consulted with other experts," he said of the scroll, which measures 36 metres by 64 cm. He said the scroll showed many graphical features and scribal devices that were no longer used by copyists of Hebrew scripts in the 17th century.
Carbon dating tests After the experts he consulted agreed that the scroll was probably several centuries older than previously believed, Perani had fragments of it subjected to carbon-14 dating tests. The tests, at the University of Salento in southern Italy and the Radiocarbon Dating Laboratory at the University of Illinois, dated the scroll as from the second half of the 12th century to the first quarter of the 13th century. The Torah, also known as the Hebrew Pentateuch, consists of the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The complete version of the Torah that was previously considered the oldest was from the late 13th century, Perani said. He said that before the scroll came into the possession of the University of Bologna in the 18th or 19th century it had been in the custody of the Dominican convent in the city that is home to the world's oldest university.
Perani has for two decades been head of the Italian Genizah project, which locates and catalogues fragments of Hebrew manuscripts in Italy. Genizah is the Hebrew word for the room in a synagogue where religious books or papers are stored. The Genizah project has found, photographed and catalogued some 13,000 fragments of Jewish compositions from various branches of Talmudic literature, Biblical commentary, Jewish thought, the Hebrew language and Jewish history. For his work in Jewish studies, Perani is due to be given an honorary degree from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem next month. — Reuters |
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