I know I already have these videos posted but I wanted to put everything in one place just in case nobody bothers to look at the Fun Biological Phenomena page and gets really confused. So enjoy if you've never seen this and reminisce if you have. And if you just don't care, then have a nice day.
- a word from your ever diligent Hopeful Herpetologist
I promise you this is going to be an awesome video, so give it a chance.
In the 1970s Asian carp (referring to bighead, silver, black, and grass carp) were imported to the U.S. to filter ponds in Arkansas. Flooding allowed them to escape and breed in the wild by the early 1980s. They have been steadily moving north and are now dangerously near our Great Lakes. In 2007, all silver carp were officially declared to be an invasive species. These carp are in competition with our native species and due to their feeding strategies (they don’t eat worms or other fish) are difficult to catch using traditional methods.
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| Grass Carp |
Asian carp, silver carp in particular, are best known for their tendency to jump out of the water when startled. In China, this became a symbol of the sudden rise in social status that comes from success in the imperial examination. However in the U.S., these fish inspire very different feelings.
As Asian carp can grow to be 100lb and can jump 8 to 10 feet into the air they have been known to cause problems. There have been instances of boaters being injured by flying carp, a woman broke her nose and a vertebra and an inner tuber’s jaw was broken by colliding with one of these carp.
These fish are a danger to us all and good old American ingenuity has come to the rescue.
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