Bighead carp

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Bighead carp

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Cypriniformes
Family:	Cyprinidae
Genus:	Hypophthalmichthys
Species:	H. nobilis

Binomial name

Hypophthalmichthys nobilis
(Richardson, 1845)

The bighead carp is a freshwater fish, one of several Asian carps. It is easily recognizable because of its large size and large, scaleless head. Bighead carp are considered a highly invasive species in the United States. Record sizes occasionally approach 100 lb (45 kg), but most places in the Mississippi River basin, a fish over 40 lb (18 kg) is considered very large. Bighead carp are popular quarry for bowfishermen; the bowfishing record, captured in Alabama in 2004, is 85 lb (38 kg).

The bighead carp has a tremendous growth rate, making it a lucrative aquaculture fish. Its value as a food fish has caused it to be exported from its native China to more than 70 other countries. Today, the bighead is distributed nearly globally.

Favoring temperate waters, the bighead carp occurs naturally in warm rivers and lakes. Bighead carp, (unlike the common carp, with which most North Americans and Europeans are more familiar), are primarily filter feeders. They are preferentially consumers of zooplankton but also consume phytoplankton and detritus.

Bighead carp and the closely related silver carp (H. molitrix) were imported to the United States to remove excess or undesirable plankton and thus improve water quality in sewage treatment plants and aquaculture facilities. However, some fish escaped into the Mississippi River basin, where they are now firmly established. A national plan for the control of Asian carps including bighead carp, was finalized in late 2007.

In the United States, a limited market has developed for bighead carp, particularly in ethnic communities, and they are farmed in ponds for this purpose. The live or very freshly killed market is most lucrative. Because of this, bighead carp are often transported live, and some feel that this is a high risk factor for the eventual spread of the fish, either through release by the end purchaser, or through escape during transport. Another potential avenue for unintentional spread of bighead carp is through use as fishing bait.^[1]

Communities are attempting to contain the spread of the extremely invasive bighead carp. New York has banned the import and possession of live bighead carp, with the exception of New York City, where they still may be legally sold in live food markets (but they must be killed before they leave the premises). Possession of live bighead carp has been illegal in Illinois since 2005. Beginning in February 2007, it is illegal to use live bighead carp as bait in Missouri.