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“This 109 [pound] carp won’t be causing any more problems for native fish and mussels!” the organization wrote in a Facebook post on June 16.
Responding to a comment on its post, the IRBS explained that bighead carp are one of several Asian carp species that were introduced to U.S. waters during the 1970s to control aquatic vegetation and limit algae growth. Some of these fish escaped into the Mississippi, where they’ve expanded to the point of overwhelming native fish populations and even posing a safety hazard for boaters.
“[These] high-profile invaders, the Asian carps (i.e., silver carp, bighead carp, black carp, and grass carp) have had a profound effect on Illinois and the Mississippi River Basin’s economic and ecological resources,” the organization writes on its website.
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“That is by far the largest bighead carp we’ve caught,” IRBS fisheries biologist Jason DeBoer told reporters. (DeBoer was on board that day monitoring the crew and photographed Gilpin with the fish.) He explained that the massive female carp was turned into liquid fertilizer, which ensures that it won’t ever spawn in the Illinois River again.
“From the fish’s point of view, the larger you can be for a female like that, the more eggs you can grow every year and the greater your chances of successfully passing on your genes,” DeBoer said. “The reason a fish that big is a problem for us is that it’s an invasive carp that makes a million or 2 million babies every year.”