Archives - Asian Carp - Bighead Carp

Article Archives/Asian Carp - Bighead Carp

Asian Carp - Bighead Carp (Part 3 of a 4 part series)

USSFN 8/22/03 - Bighead carp, native to the large rivers of eastern China such as the Yangtze, were first brought to the U.S. in 1972 by a private fish farmer in Arkansas who wanted to use them to improve water quality and increase fish production in culture ponds. By 1974 the species was being evaluated by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission and Auburn University for its potential biological benefits and impacts.

Bighead carp first began to appear in open public waters (i.e. the Ohio and Mississippi rivers) in the early 1980’s, likely the result of escapement from fish farms and aquaculture facilities. The species has now been recorded from within, or along the borders of, at least 18 states, and is reported to be “piling up” in large numbers below dams on many Midwestern rivers, and filling the nets of commercial fishermen to the point that nets can’t be lifted and fishing sites have to be abandoned.

The bighead carp is a very large deepbodied, somewhat laterally compressed (narrow) fish with a very large head. Scales are very tiny, resembling those of trout, and the eyes are situated below the midline of the body. Gill rakers are long, comblike and close-set allowing the species to strain plankton organisms from the water for food. The bighead carp utilizes open water areas, moving about in the euphotic (surface) zones of large lowland rivers, consuming large quantities of bluegreen algae, zooplankton, and aquatic insect larvae and adults. Because of it’s feeding habits, the species is a direct competitor with the native paddlefish, bigmouth buffalo, and gizzard shad; as well as with all larval and juvenile fishes and native mussels.

Some cultures value the flesh of bighead carp as a source of food protein and prefer that these fish be kept alive until immediately before cooking. Such demands are growing, particularly in cities with large ethnic Asian communities.

Source: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service