Ep. 72 - Grass Carp: A Reel Problem

In this episode, Steve leads a discussion on the invasive Grass Carp. The guys go over the evolutionary history of grass carp and its relatives, its biology, its introduction to The Great Lakes region, why people are concerned, and anything interesting Steve found out about it.

There are a lot more interesting fish topics that we can explore in the future, at least while Steve is researching fish. Enojy the episode!

This episode was recorded on February 24, 2025 at JP Nicely Memorial Park in West Falls, NY.

Episode Notes and Links

Seagulls are fish.

Common Carp are invasive and cause environmental damage. The guys didn’t get this right. For shame!

Sponsors and Ways to Support Us

Gumleaf Boots, USA (free shipping for patrons)

Thank you to Always Wandering Art (Website and Etsy Shop) for providing the artwork for many of our episodes.

Support us on Patreon.

Check out the Field Guides merch at our Teespring store. It’s really a great deal: you get to pay us to turn your body into a billboard for the podcast!

Works Cited

Chapman, D.C., Davis, J.J., Jenkins, J.A., Kocovsky, P.M., Miner, J.G., Farver, J. and Jackson, P.R., 2013. First evidence of grass carp recruitment in the Great Lakes Basin. Journal of Great Lakes Research, 39(4), pp.547-554.

Mitchell, A.J. and Kelly, A.M., 2006. The public sector role in the establishment of grass carp in the United States. Fisheries, 31(3), pp.113-121.

Wang, Y., Lu, Y., Zhang, Y., Ning, Z., Li, Y., Zhao, Q., Lu, H., Huang, R., Xia, X., Feng, Q.I. and Liang, X., 2015. The draft genome of the grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idellus) provides insights into its evolution and vegetarian adaptation. Nature genetics, 47(6), pp.625-631.

Wu, C.S., Ma, Z.Y., Zheng, G.D., Zou, S.M., Zhang, X.J. and Zhang, Y.A., 2022. Chromosome-level genome assembly of grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella) provides insights into its genome evolution. BMC genomics, 23(1), p.271.

Photo Credit

Peter Halasz (User:Pengo), Melbourne, CC BY-SA 3.0 Grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella) at Tropicarium Budapest. No changes made to photo