Silver carp BY: Kyle Adler

This is the Silver Carp.

The Silver Carp is: About 60-100 lbs. 36-48 inches (3-4 ft.)It eats plankton and small insects.They mature at 3 yrs. and die at 10 yrs. This fish jumps out of the water when bothered or frightened by boat motors.

The Silver CarpThis shows a fisherman almost getting smacked in the face by a Silver Carp. Most fisherman have to put cages on their boats because of this.

These maps show where the silver carp has gone over a period of time. As you can see they have spread fast.

How did it get here?

Well, the Silver Carp originally lived in China, until American fish farmers brought it here.Then the Mississippi River flooded, letting the Silver Carp escape. It has been swimming up rivers and canals trying to get into the Great Lakes.

Economic impact•It eats other native species of fish, and eats all the plants on the bottom of the lakes; both reducing native fish population.

This is extremely bad for the multi-billion fishing industries in the Great Lakes.

How do we keep this fish out of our water?

Well, most people thought we should install electric barriers like this:

To reduce the population, people have started to hunt them.

And then eat them.

What I think about them.

I think the silver carp may be bad for the native fish, but most people have started to like eating them, and if you have a big boat, they will jump straight into your boat! This will make it so much easier for anyone to get fish to eat. This makes me think, if we can get them for food so easily, they might just become a part of our diet, like the native fish. Anyway, that’s what I think about silver carp. Tell me what you think.

BibliographyHere’s the links I used.YouTubeSilver Carp jumping, YouTube,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3Bf0WhvsNk, 3/10/2013

Google imagesSilver Carp, Google, http://www.google.com/, 2/24/2013

Nab the aquatic invaderSilver Carp, Nab the aquatic invader,

http://www.iiseagrant.org/nabinvader/ 2/14/2013