14 Facts About Black carp

Black carp or Chinese black roach is a species of cyprinid freshwater fish and the sole extant species of the genus Mylopharyngodon.

In China, black carp is widely cultivated for food and Chinese medicine, being one of the most highly esteemed and expensive domestic food fish, and partly because of its diet and limited food supply, is the most scarce and expensive in the marketplace among the "four famous domestic fishes".

Black carp have large cycloid scales on their body and a forked tail fin behind a broad caudal peduncle.

Black carp was first accidentally introduced into the United States during a grass carp shipment from Asia in the 1970s.

The black carp was later intentionally introduced to the US in the 1980s for use in retention ponds and aquaculture facilities to manage yellow grub and snails populations.

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Black carp later began to migrate to connected river systems, and spread via continued flooding events.

Some state aquaculture laws require the Black carp to be bred as triploids, to render them sterile, thus minimizing the potential for the fish to escape and create self-sustaining populations.

Many mechanical control methods have been used to control the population of Asian Black carp, including use of noise, walls of bubbles, netting and even explosions, but these have only succeeded in slowing the spread of Black carp.

The most effective methods, such as chemical poisoning, are successful at killing Black carp, but affect other fish in the body of water, further disrupting the ecosystem.

Efforts to prevent Asian Black carp from spreading to crucial ecosystems such as the Great Lakes or waterways on the West Coast are ongoing.

Rivers where black carp have been captured include the White in Arkansas, the Atchafalaya and Red in Louisiana, and the Kaskaskia and Illinois Rivers in Illinois.

Black carp are considered to be a serious threat to mollusks native to the United States, many of which are critically endangered.

In 2007, the black carp was listed as an "injurious species" under the Lacey Act of 1900.

Black carp have enameloid teeth located in the posterior pharynx between the cleithral bones.