We are pleased to announce a new article on Featured Creatures!
Take a sneak peek with this excerpt from the article: The grass carp, Ctenopharyngodon idella Cuvier and Valenciennes, was imported to the U.S. in 1963 as a biological control agent for hydrilla (Hydrilla verticilliata (L.f.) Royle) and other aquatic plants. Efficacy experiments were conducted in Florida in the 1970s by the United States Department of Agriculture and the University of Florida. Use of the fish was limited from 1970 until 1984 due to tight regulations surrounding concerns of escape and reproduction, and the potential impacts that colonization of the fish could have on native flora and fauna. These concerns led to research that developed a non-reproductive fish, which was equally effective in controlling hydrilla.
Figure 1. Adult grass carp, Ctenopharyngodon idella Val. Photograph by Jeffrey E. Hill, University of Florida.
Available at: http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/creatures/BENEFICIAL/MISC/Ctenopharyngodon_idella.htm
Authors: Emma N.I. Weeks, Entomology and Nematology Department, University of Florida, Jeffrey E. Hill, Tropical Aquaculture Laboratory, Program in Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, School of Forest Resources, University of Florida
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