Fishkeepers in Maryland, USA, are opposing a move by the state to ban all species of snakehead from being kept in aquaria.
According to the Washington Post, Maryland is currently developing laws which will make it illegal to possess any species of snakehead.
Fishkeeping groups say that this is tarring all species with the same brush, as only one species, the Northern snakehead, Channa argus, has caused environmental damage by being illegally released by those selling the fish as a food for human consumption.
A market trader was recently arrested for illegally selling the banned snakeheads to Koreans for food.
It's unlikely that tropical snakeheads would survive in the USA, but the Northern snakehead is a temperate fish, capable of tolerating much cooler temperatures. The keeping of this species is even restricted in the UK.
According to the Washington Post, Fish enthusiasts and members of the trade met in Annapolis last night, to protest against the proposed measures, claiming that it would be wrong to introduce a blanket ban for snakeheads.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Natural Resources Fishery Services suggested that another option might be to "grandfather" fishkeepers wishing to keep these species, much in the same way as fishkeepers wishing to keep exotic coldwater species, such as Myxocyprinus asiaticus, bitterlings and pumpkinseeds need to do in the UK.