Tastes Like Didymo

We've got good news and bad news....

The good news? Invasive mussels in the Great Lakes might keep invasive carp from establishing sustaining populations.

The bad news? Invasive carp might be able to live on mussel shit.

Duane Chapman, a U.S. Geological Survey biologist and Asian carp expert, says the fish are remarkably resourceful at scrounging up meals. He says they likely could feast on the fields of cladophora covering the lake bottom, and they may even be able to sustain themselves on mussel excrement.

LINK (Via: JS Online)

Uh Oh

An Asian carp was found for the first time beyond electric barriers meant to keep the voracious invasive species out of the Great Lakes, state and federal officials said Wednesday, prompting renewed calls for swift action to block their advance.

Commercial fishermen landed the 3-foot-long, 20-pound bighead carp in Lake Calumet on Chicago’s South Side, about six miles from Lake Michigan, according to the Asian Carp Regional Coordinating Committee.

LINK (Via: Science News)

Didymo Found in Chile

Must have been someone's felt shoes.

Didymosphenia, commonly known as “Didymo,” “Rock Snot” or “The Toliet Paper Weed,” has been discovered in New Zealand and North America and is now confirmed to have made its way into the Futaleufu River, in Chile’s Patagonia Region.

LINK (The Santiago Times)

Grouper Eating Lionfish?

The lionfish is an invasive species that is appearing in alarming numbers in the Caribbean and off the coast of Florida. It was thought that the spiny bastards had no natural predators except for possibly large grouper. This photo taken by a recreational diver seems to suggest that grouper do indeed eat lionfish..... or that this guy made a really poor dietary choice.

LINK (Via: Florida Sportsman)

Biologists say there's only one way the bass could have ended up in the reservoir—someone with a bucketful of bass put them there

The DWR, the Stonefly Society of the Wasatch and Utah Trout Unlimited are offering a reward of up to $7,000 to the person who provides information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons who put white bass in the Deer Creek Reservoir.

Some of the planted bass planted have been found in the Provo.

LINK (Via: Utah DNR)

Kagan and Carp

As President Barack Obama’s Solicitor General, Supreme Court Nominee Elena Kagan argued against closing the Chicago locks to prevent Asian carp from entering Lake Michigan. 

 LINK  (Via: The Great Lakes Echo)