When spooked, the Silver Carp jump several feet out of the water and as a result, they have caused numerous injuries including broken rids and noses.

Silver Carp Invasion

By 2003, Silver Carp had spread into the Mississippi, Illinois, Ohio, and Missouri rivers and many of their tributaries in the United States. They have huge populations in the lower Mississippi River watershed from Louisiana to South Dakota and Illinois where their numbers reach 13 tonnes of fish for every mile. These fish have the ability to over run the United States and Canada.

When spooked, the Silver Carp jump several feet out of the water and as a result, they have caused numerous injuries including broken rids, noses and even knocked people into the water.

Changing Habitat

Just ten years ago, the Carp were relatively unknown to the souther Mississippi river drainage. However, they have now taken over.

The key to the success of the Silver Carp is the filter in front of the gills, which filters out food particles down to 4 or 5 microns.

They feed everytime they breath and this allows them to grow very quickly while removing everything from the water and leaving nothing for the native species like Buffalo. In large numbers, they filter the river completely leaving nothing left for other fish.

Silver Carp

The Silver Carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix), also known as flying carp, was imported into the United States in the 1970s by catfish farmers to clean up the waste from breeding ponds. They were also imported to control algae growth in aquaculture and municipal wastewater treatment facilities.

However, the carp soon escaped and spread northward up the Mississippi River after their introduction and have spread and increased their numbers dramatically, moving as far north as Illinois.

Due to their high population densities, they are considered a highly invasive species and a huge detriment to the local fish populations due to their high consumption of food.