ABOVE: Silver carp jumping in the Fox River
RYAN HAGERTY/USFWS
Invasive Asian carp could thrive in the waters of Lake Michigan by chowing down on feces and decomposing organisms, researchers reported August 12 in Freshwater Biology.
Two carp species, the bighead (Hypophthalmichthys nobilis) and silver carp (H. molitrix), were brought to the US in the 1960s and dumped into southern sewage lagoons and fish farms to eat away excess algae, according to the Associated Press. The fish found their way to the Mississippi River, traveling through its many tributaries on their way north. The Illinois River now teems with the carp, which make up two-thirds of its fish biomass found there, according to Science News.
As the carp make their way towards the Great Lakes, scientists are trying to figure out if and how they could survive there.
“We should be doing everything we can to keep bighead and silver carps ...
