Disclaimer:

The Nonindigenous Occurrences section of the NAS species profiles has a new structure. The section is now dynamically updated from the NAS database to ensure that it contains the most current and accurate information. Occurrences are summarized in Table 1, alphabetically by state, with years of earliest and most recent observations, and the tally and names of drainages where the species was observed. The table contains hyperlinks to collections tables of specimens based on the states, years, and drainages selected. References to specimens that were not obtained through sighting reports and personal communications are found through the hyperlink in the Table 1 caption or through the individual specimens linked in the collections tables.

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Common name: Silver Carp

Synonyms and Other Names: Leuciscus molitrix Valenciennes, 1844

Taxonomy: available through www.itis.gov

Identification: Silver Carp is a deep-bodied fish that is laterally compressed. They are a very silvery in color when young and when they get older they fade from a greenish color on the back to silver on the belly. They have very tiny scales on their body but the head and the opercles are scaleless. They have a large mouth without any teeth in the jaw, but they have pharyngeal teeth. Its eyes are situated far forward on the midline of the body and are slightly turned down.

Silver Carp are very similar to Bighead Carp (H. nobilis) and can be distinguished by the greenish/silvery color (vs. dark side blotches) and a smooth abdominmal keel that extends forward past the pelvic fins to the gills (vs. belly keel limited to between the anal fins and pelvic fins), a smaller head, and highly branched, sponge-like gill rakers (vs. long, comb-like gill rakers).

Silver carp are unlikely to be confused with native cyprinids due to size and unusual position of the eye. They are most similar to bighead carp (H. nobilis) but have a smaller head, and upturned mouth without teeth, a keel that extends forward past pelvic fin base, lack the dark blotches characteristic of bighead carp and have highly branched gill rakers. Adult Silver Carp are unlikely to be confused with any North American native minnow species due to the large size and unusual position of the eye; however, juvenile Silver Carp may be confused for a number of species including Common Carp (Cyprinus carpio), Goldfish (Carassius auratus), Gizzard Shad (Dorosoma cepedianum), and Golden Shiner (Notemigonus crysoleucas)

Juvenile fish lack spines in fins. Metalarvae and early juvenile are similar to Bighead Carp but pectoral fin extends only to base of pelvic fin (as opposed to beyond in the pelvic fin in bighead)

The species is known for leaping out of the water when startled (e.g., by noises such as a boat motor).

Size: 1 m and 27 kg.

Native Range: Several major Pacific drainages in eastern Asia from the Amur River of far eastern Russia south through much of eastern half of China to Pearl River, possibly including northern Vietnam (Berg 1949; Li and Fang 1990).

Alaska	Hawaii	Puerto Rico & Virgin Islands	Guam Saipan

Hydrologic Unit Codes (HUCs) Explained
Interactive maps: Point Distribution Maps

Ecology: Silver Carp primarily inhabit large rivers.  They can tolerate salinities up to 12 ppt and low dissolved oxygen (3mg/L). Similar to Bighead Carp, Silver Carp can tolerate a broad range of temperatures. Larval Silver Carp can exist in water temperatures ranging between 16–40 °C (Tripathi 1989), with an upper lethal temperature between 43.5–46.5 °C (Opuszynksi et al. 1989). Silver Carp have successfully overwintered in ponds in Alberta, CA and have been observed with full guts at temperatures below 4 °C in the Missouri river; however, feeding at lower temperatures is likely diminished (Kolar et al. 2007). 

Silver Carp feed on both phytoplankton and zooplankton (Radke and Kahl 2002) but in contrast to the Bighead Carp (Hypophthalmichthys nobilis), which is more effective at filtering larger plankton (zooplankton), the Silver Carp’s dense gill rakers allow it to be more efficient at filtering smaller prey (typically phytoplankton) (Dong and Li 1994). Although they are primarily planktivores, Bighead and Silver carp have broad, flexible diets and in some cases have been observed to feed on detritus and biodeposits (Calkins et al. 2012; Boros et al. 2014; Anderson et al. 2016).

Maturation rate of Bighead and Silver carp has been found to be related to water temperature (Kolar et al. 2005, 2007). In their native range, Silver Carp reach maturity between 4 and 8 years old but are noted in North America to mature as early as 2 years old and can live up to 20 years (Williamson and Garvey 2005; Kolar et al. 2007). In the Wabash River, broad-scale migration of Silver Carp occurs in the fall prior to overwintering, and in the spring 1-2 months prior to the onset of spawning (Coulter et al. 2016). Spawning grounds are typically characterized by rapidly flowing (current velocity= 0.6-2.3 m/s), turbid water that ranges from 18-30 °C with suspended solids limiting visibility often to 10-15 cm (Kolar et al. 2007). Spawning is often initiated by rising water levels and heavy rains in the spring (Kolar et al. 2007; Chapman et al. 2013; Erickson et al. 2016). However, rising hydrographs are not always necessary for spawning—indicating that these fish exhibit a phenotypic plasticity that may facilitate their successful establishment in novel ecosystems (Deters et al. 2012; Kocovosky et al. 2012; Coulter et al. 2013). Silver Carp fecundity is high; females weighing 6.4–12.1 kg were observed to produce 597,000–4,329,600 eggs per fish (Kolar et al. 2007). Williamson and Garvey (2005) observed that fecundity of six Silver Carp in the middle Mississippi River ranged from 57,283–328,538 eggs. It was initially believed that successful spawning required 100 km river in order to allow sufficient egg development (Kolar et al. 2007), but this notion has been disproven by several models and field observations. Evidence has shown that water quality parameters—particularly water temperature—and hydrologic factors of a river are major determinants of spawning suitability (Kocovosky et al. 2012; Chapman et al. 2013; Murphy and Jackson 2013; Cuddington et al. 2014). Given the right temperature and flow conditions, river reaches as short as 25 km may allow for the successful development of Invasive Carp eggs (Murphy and Jackson 2013).

Means of Introduction: Silver Carp was imported and stocked for phytoplankton control in eutrophic water bodies and also apparently as a food fish. It was first brought into the United States in 1973 when a private fish farmer imported Silver Carp into Arkansas (Freeze and Henderson 1982). By the mid 1970s Silver Carp was being raised at six state, federal, and private facilities, and by the late 1970s it had been stocked in several municipal sewage lagoons (Robison and Buchanan 1988). By 1980 it was discovered in natural waters, probably a result of escapes from fish hatcheries and other types of aquaculture facilities (Freeze and Henderson 1982). The occurrence of Silver Carp in the Ouachita River of the Red River system in Louisiana was likely the result of an escape from an aquaculture facility upstream in Arkansas (Freeze and Henderson 1982). The Florida introduction was probably a result of stock contamination, a Silver Carp having been inadvertently released with Grass Carp being used for aquatic plant control (Middlemas 1994). In a similar case, the species was apparently introduced accidentally to an Arizona lake as part of an intentional, albeit illegal, stock of diploid Grass Carp (W. Silvey, personal communication). Pearson and Krumholz (1984) suggested that individuals taken from the Ohio River may have come from plantings in local ponds or entered the Ohio River from populations originally introduced in Arkansas.

Status: Records are available for 12 states. It is apparently established in Louisiana (Douglas et al. 1996) and is possibly established in Illinois; Silver Carp have been reported in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, and Tennessee. Douglas et al. (1996) collected more than 1600 larvae of this genus from a backwater outlet of the Black River in Louisiana in 1994. Burr et al. (1996) found young-of-the-year in a ditch near Horseshoe Lake and reported this as the first evidence of successful spawning of Silver Carp in Illinois waters and the United States. They felt that the species would be 'established' in the state within the next ten years. Based on the occurrence of juvenile fish in Illinois waters, Pflieger (1997) felt that successful spawning of Silver Carp in Missouri seems inevitable. In the early 1980s commercial fishermen in Arkansas had caught 166 Silver Carp from seven different sites; however, during an intensive 1980-1981 survey to determine the distribution and status of Bighead and Silver Carp in state open waters, Arkansas Game and Fish Commission personnel were unsuccessful in procuring any additional specimens (Freeze and Henderson 1982). Although Arkansas state personnel did not find young-of-the-year fish, several specimens taken by the commercial fishermen were sexually mature and exhibited secondary sexual characteristics (Freeze and Henderson 1982). Nevertheless, Robison and Buchanan (1988) reported that there was still no evidence of natural reproduction in Arkansas waters. Rinne (1995) listed Silver Carp as introduced to Arizona in 1972 and denoted it as established. Apparently in reference to the same record, William Silvey of the Arizona Game and Fish Department recently informed us that the only Silver Carp documented in Arizona open waters was a population inhabiting an urban lake in Chandler during the early 1970s. However, further investigation has shown that it was most likely a Bighead x Grass Carp hybrid population (P. Marsh, pers.comm.). That population, along with a large population of diploid Grass Carp, was exterminated in 1975 or 1976 by personnel from the Arizona Game and Fish Department and Arizona State University (W. Silvey, personal communication). Pearson and Krumholz (1984) documented records from the Ohio River, but they did not include it as one of the species that exist in well-established, reproducing populations. Etnier and Starnes (1993) provided information on Silver Carp, but by publication they were unaware of any records of the species in the state of Tennessee.

Although Silver Carp has not been physically detected in the Great Lakes, environmental DNA (eDNA) has been found in water samples collected in several areas in 2012: above electric barriers from Lake Calumet, the Little Calumet River, the North Shore Channel, and the Chicago River (USACE 2012), as well as Maumee Bay, Lake Erie (Jerde et al. 2013).

Impact of Introduction:

Summary of species impacts derived from literature review. Click on an icon to find out more...

Ecological	Economic	Human Health	Other

Pflieger (1997) considered the impact of this species difficult to predict because of its place in the food web. In numbers, Silver Carp has the potential to cause enormous damage to native species because it feeds on plankton required by larval fish and native mussels (Laird and Page 1996). This species would also be a potential competitor with adults of some native fishes, for instance, Gizzard Shad, that also rely on plankton for food (Pflieger 1997).  A study by Sampson et al. (2009) found that Bighead and Silver Carp had dietary overlap with Gizzard Shad and Bigmouth Buffalo, but not much of one with Paddlefish.

Bighead and Silver Carp have been shown to affect zooplankton communities (Burke et al. 1986, Lu et al. 2002, Cooke et al. 2009; Calkins et al. 2012; Freedman et al. 2012; Sass et al. 2014).

Freedman et al. (2012) showed that resource use and trophic levels of the fish community change when Bighead and Silver Carp are present. They also demonstrated an impact on Bigmouth Buffalo and found isotopic values similar to Bluegill, Gizzard Shad, and Emerald Shiner. Irons et al. (2007) showed significant declines in body condition of Gizzard Shad and Bigmouth Buffalo following invasion by Silver and Bighead carps. They state that ultimately, declines in body condition may decrease fecundity.

Remarks: Jenkins and Burkhead (1994) reported on the use of Silver Carp in a wastewater treatment pond in the upper James River drainage of Virginia. However, there is as yet no record of the species in Virginia open waters. One of the so-called 'invasive carps', Silver Carp is a filter-feeder capable of taking large amounts of phytoplankton. Its diet also includes zooplankton, bacteria, and detritus (Leventer 1987). This species has been intensively cultured in many parts of the world, often raised in combination with other fishes.

The report in Fuller et al. (1999) from Bay County, Florida was actually a Bighead arp (UF 98162).

Voucher specimens: Illinois (SIUC 17716, 23043, 23046, 24415; INHS 88425); Louisiana (NLU 65811, 66858, 66859).

References: (click for full references)

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Anderson, K.R., D.C. Chapman, T.T. Wynne, and C.P. Paukert. 2017. Assessment of phytoplankton resources suitable for bigheaded carps in Lake Michigan derived from remote sensing and bioenergetics. Journal of Great Lakes Research 43(3):90-99. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0380133017300461.

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Other Resources:
Facts About Bighead and Silver Carp  (USGS - Columbia, Missouri)

Asian Carp Management Plan

Asian Carp Regional Coordinating Committee

Proceedings of the Asian Carp Working Group Meeting, May 24, 2004, Columbia, Missouri

Risk Assessment for Asian Carps in Canada (CSAS)

Pennsylvania Sea Grant Factsheet

Global Invasive Species Database Factsheet

US Fish and Wildlife Service Ecological Risk Screening Summary for Hypophthalmichthys molitrix

Author: Nico, L., G. Nunez, E. Baker, P. Alsip, J. Redinger, and M. Neilson

Peer Review Date: 1/22/2015

This information is preliminary or provisional and is subject to revision. It is being provided to meet the need for timely best science. The information has not received final approval by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and is provided on the condition that neither the USGS nor the U.S. Government shall be held liable for any damages resulting from the authorized or unauthorized use of the information.