Foreign Nonindigenous Carps and Minnows (Cyprinidae) in the United States - A Guide to their Identification, Distribution, and Biology

Abundance, biomass, and macrophyte consumption by rudd in Buffalo Harbor and the Niagara River, and potential herbivory by grass carp

“…(3) macrophytes that can support the phytophilic reproductive requirement of rudd (Schofield et al, 2005), and (4) adequate flow regimes and turbulence to support the riverine reproductive strategy of grass carp Garcia et al, 2013). The populations of rudd in Buffalo Harbor and the upper Niagara River appear to be the most abundant in North America and may serve as a source for invasion into other areas of the Great Lakes.…”

A novel field technique to assess ploidy in introduced Grass Carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella, Cyprinidae)

“…However, once established, a Grass Carp population can eradicate aquatic vegetation that serves as a food supply for waterfowl and as refuge from predators for young fishes; they also increase nutrient concentrations and phytoplankton densities, reducing dissolved oxygen required by other species in the process (Bain 1993). In the US, intentional stockings and escapes resulted in many reports of Grass Carp being captured in the Missouri and Mississippi rivers by the early 1970s and soon after Grass Carp had established breeding populations in Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Tennessee in the Mississippi River basin, and in the Trinity River in Texas (Schofield et al 2005). Presently, the most critical invasion front for Grass Carp is the Great Lakes, where Grass Carp populations have recently been found and are expected to expand (Kocovsky et al 2012;Chapman et al 2013;Cuddington et al 2014).…”

“…Nonnative carps are known to alter water quality, predate on and compete with native species, and in some cases hybridize with native species (Bain 1993;Richardson et al 1995;Schofield et al 2005). Two filter-feeding species, Bighead Carp (Hypophthalmichthys nobilis) and Silver Carp (H. molitrix), were imported to North America (Arkansas) in the early 1970s to improve water clarity in commercial ponds, now are established in the Mississippi River, and are thought to outcompete native species for plankton as a food source (Kolar et al 2005;Sampson et al 2009).…”

Observations of Silver Carp(Hypophthalmichthys molitrix) Planktivory in a Floodplain Lake of the Lower Mississippi River Basin

“…The food resource of the silver carp is phytoplankton and zooplankton. According to Schofield et al (2005), silver carp larvae feed principally on zooplankton, but adults feed principally on phytoplankton and to a lesser extent zooplankton and detritus.…”