In the animal kingdom, felines prey on fish. But in the insect world, it’s the fish that have been charged with hunting down tigers.
Well, tiger mosquitoes: Specifically the Asian tiger mosquito, a breed that annoys many a picnicker and vacationer in the Washington area.
The mosquito — native to Asia but now prevalent in Virginia and Maryland — is believed to have come over through the trade of used tires. To wit, tiger mosquitoes were discovered in Maryland at a Baltimore processing plant for used tires.
The mosquito’s name comes from its native land and because its black-and-white legs resemble a tiger’s stripes. It is a container breeder, meaning it typically develops in a smaller, standing pool of water — such as an empty flower pot — rather than a larger body of water.
In addition to its colors, “maybe they call it a tiger mosquito because it likes to sit in the bushes and pounce — it’s not a mosquito that hunts on the wing,” David Gaines, public health entomologist with the Virginia Department of Health, ventured with a laugh.
Because mosquitoes need standing water to thrive, animals with a natural proclivity toward water, namely fish, make logical pest controls.
Among the most promising predators of tiger mosquito larvae are mosquitofish, which are native to Maryland and strategically distributed in the Chesapeake Bay system.
The fish give birth to between 40 and 100 offspring each season on average, and there are three or four brooding periods per year, according to the Maryland Department of Agriculture. Fish can be introduced to such mosquito habitats as storm water management facilities, ditches, swales, ornamental ponds and abandoned swimming pools, as lakes, ponds and streams are typically not mosquito breeding hot spots.
But the tiger mosquito’s characteristic as a “container breeder” makes it tough to catch.
“A container holding a gallon of water and sitting in the shade will still hold water for months after the last rain,” Gaines said. “An Asian tiger mosquito larva can complete its development into an adult biting mosquito in as little as a tablespoon of water.”
Indeed, many of the mosquitos’ breeding sites are so out of the way that the mosquitofish’s value as a population controller is limited, according to Maryland officials.
So despite the agency’s best efforts, at least for now, the tiger is still beating the fish.
