The DNR biologists who found the carp sent a sliver of its head
including a piece of its eye to a USGS lab in Louisiana to
determine if this fish had been capable of breeding in our
waters. They also sent a few bones to another USGS lab in
Missouri to determine how old the fish was (we are still waiting
for the results from the latter but WDNR biologists believe it
to be at least 10 years old). The results from Louisiana are in
and are quite encouraging – the fish is triploid. A triploid
fish is one that is modified to have an extra set of chromosomes
that prevents the fish from forming glands necessary to
reproduce. Triploid carp are still legally released in many
states for use in aquatic plant management. Today, thanks to NR
40, it is ILLEGAL to release even triploid carp. While we can
all sigh in relief as we dodged this biological bullet, this
remains to be a harsh reminder that Asian Carp are quite capable
of invading Wisconsin through our western border, the
Mississippi River. This is believed to be th