Silver Carp (Part 8)

Silver carp and bighead carp are exotic Asian fish that can reach 4 feet in length and 
60 pounds. Originally imported to the United States in the early 1970s to remove algae 
from private aquaculture ponds, they escaped to the Mississippi River drainage in the 
1980s.

Silver carp were recently discovered in the Mississippi River as far north as Minnesota, 
and in the Missouri River System into South Dakota.

Silver carp feed on plankton and compete directly for food with small game fish, and 
even large native species like paddlefish. In addition, they have the unsettling habit 
of leaping several feet out of the water at the sound of a boat, which, as funny as it 
may sound, puts boaters at risk of collisions with flying carp.


Snakehead, Spiny Water Flea, Gobe, Rudd, Ruffe, New Zealand Mud Snails

And the list goes on. A snakehead is discovered in Wisconsin, spiny water fleas have 
jumped from Great Britain to the Great Lakes to pristine northern Minnesota lakes.

Gobe and Rudd and Ruffe are undesirable foreign fish that found their way to the United 
States and are now spreading throughout the Midwest.

And from the west comes the New Zealand mud snail, which has a foothold in the 
Yellowstone River basin, which puts North Dakota directly in its way.