INVASIVE CARP SAMPLING REPORT - JANUARY – DECEMBER 2015

Invasive Carps have the potential to devastate local ecosystems by competing with native planktivores and overcrowding other native species. With high fecundity and the ability to populate new areas quickly, Invasive Carps can reach high abundances, sometimes comprising most of the fish biomass in certain systems (MICRA 2002). Invasive Carps have a voracious appetite, and coupled with their large size (>70 pounds), have the ability to consume large amounts of food by filtering zooplankton, phytoplankton, and organic particles out of the water column (Jennings 1988; Smith 1989; Voros 1997). If Invasive Carp populations establish in Minnesota, native planktivores such as Paddlefish Polyodon spathula, Bigmouth Buffalo Ictiobus cyprinellus, Gizzard Shad Dorosoma cepedianum, and the larval stages of many other native fishes may be in direct competition with Invasive Carps for food resources.