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THE recently glamorized “grass carp” and its predecessor in the spotlight, the “Israeli carp,” are not living up to their reputations as weed eradicators, , according to Game Commission Fish Division Chief Jack Hoffman.
Recent articles in national magazines have hailed the white amur or grass >arp as an instant answer to weed-choked ponds, but recent studies indicate that this big member of the minnow family does little to control weeds and may actually compete with game fishes in the pond for plankton and other aquatic organisms.
Recent research in Missouri reported by the Sport Fishing Institute indicates that weed consumption is greatest in hot weather and when other food sources are not abundant. Fishes in test tanks ate freshwater shrimps in preference to aquatic weeds at low temperatures and ate weeds as a side dish as temperatures increased.
COONTAIL, one of the most common problem weeds, was spurned by the grass carp, but other species of aquatic weeds were eaten. Algae, one of the leading problem aquatic growths, formed only 9%of the diet in one study. “We feel that the weed control prospects of the grass carp are highly overrated and, if proposed legislation passes giving the Commission authority to prevent the importation of undesirable fishes, we would place the grass carp on this list,” Hoffman said. “As for the Israeli carp, we get about as many calls about, how to remove them from lakes as inquiries
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