
Japan launches catch-and-eat drive to eliminate 'prince fish' nuisance
Mon Nov 26, 2007, TOKYO (AFP) ....Emperor Akihito, a fish expert, brought the bluegill from the United States a half-century ago when he was crown prince, hoping to offer a new source of food to Japan. But the bluegill, once celebrated as "prince fish," has turned into a nuisance in Japanese rivers and lakes by feeding on native species...Bluegill is common dinner fare in the United States and is the state fish of Illinois, where Chicago's legendary mayor Richard J. Daley offered the fish specimen as a gift to the visiting Akihito in 1960...more...