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I returned to my hometown during the flood season this year and saw locals cutting branches to make fish traps in the rivers. In the Mekong Delta, setting up these traps is both a long-standing cultural practice and a way to earn a living. The traps, called cha in Vietnamese, are bundles of branches placed in rivers and canals to attract fish seeking shelter.

Traditionally, cha and its contents are harvested in December, near the Lunar New Year, for fish to eat and sell. But in recent years, people in my hometown complain that they could only catch janitor fish instead of the usual snakehead, tilapia, or catfish.

Around 20 years ago, I could find large snakehead, catfish, and tilapia in my fish pond after draining all the water. My family ate the fish fresh, and any extra was dried or fermented into fish sauce. In the past ten years, suckermouth catfish have become much more common in the pond. One year, after using nearly ten liters of fuel to pump the pond dry, I found only a disappointing school of suckermouth catfish.

Suckermouth catfish are an invasive species introduced for ornamental purposes and later released into natural waterways in Vietnam. They started as a handful of fish in garden ponds and have now multiplied across rivers and canals in the Mekong Delta.

The fish have a rough and coarse appearance. They are omnivorous, hardy, and protected by a hard outer shell that prevents most other species from competing with them. They also burrow into riverbanks and canal edges and cause soil erosion.

My older brother does not even bother removing suckermouth catfish from his net when he catches them and burns them instead.

“I have to waste so many nets and they are still there,” he said.

Locals tried to weed them out at first but when that failed, some began eating them. Then one day, people started hailing them as a “specialty dish” and said that they are “as tasty as chicken meat”.

In many rural markets, they are now sold as an ordinary food item.

Before suckermouth catfish, farmers used to struggle with other invasive species such as golden apple snails, red-eared slider turtles, and black mimosa. These problems began with carelessness or irresponsibility when introducing non-native species into local environments.

Once they multiply and dominate, people spend time and money trying to control them. The cycle then repeats: a new species draws interest, is brought home as a pet, and when no longer wanted, is released into the environment without regard for long-term consequences.

The suckermouth catfish is a lesson in the lack of awareness and care in managing invasive species.