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Asian carp eggs cannot be distinguished from other cyprinid species on the basis of morphology alone: Supporting Data

Metadata Updated: October 29, 2025

Eggs were collected in the Upper Mississippi main stem (Pool 9 and Pool 11) during the summer of 2013. Using previously published morphological characteristics, eggs were positively identified as belonging to an invasive Asian carp genus. A subsample of these eggs was subsequently analyzed using molecular methods to determine species identity. Genetic identification of a total of 41 eggs was attempted using the cytochrome c oxidase 1 (COI) gene. Due to the preservation technique used (formalin) and resulting DNA degradation, sequences from only 17 individuals could be recovered. In all cases, non-carp cyprinids were identified as the most likely species identity (usually a Notropis spp.). In previously published reports, the primary morphological characteristic that distinguishes invasive carp from non-carp cyprinids is size. However, many of the eggs that were identified as non-carp cyprinids genetically were as large as 4.0 mm in diameter (at early developmental stages), large enough to overlap in size with Asian carp eggs on the low end of their size range. Other researchers studying fish eggs and early life history stages should plan on preserving a subset of collected eggs for genetic analysis to confirm morphological identifications.

Access & Use Information

Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. License: No license information was provided. If this work was prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties it is considered a U.S. Government Work.

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Dates

Metadata Created Date September 13, 2025
Metadata Updated Date October 29, 2025

Metadata Source

Harvested from DOI USGS DCAT-US

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date September 13, 2025
Metadata Updated Date October 29, 2025
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Maintainer
Identifier http://datainventory.doi.gov/id/dataset/usgs-55f9b4fde4b05d6c4e5014c0
Data Last Modified 2021-06-08T00:00:00Z
Category geospatial
Public Access Level public
Bureau Code 010:12
Metadata Context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
Metadata Catalog ID https://ddi.doi.gov/usgs-data.json
Schema Version https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
Catalog Describedby https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
Harvest Object Id b1e5c347-6875-47f9-b1aa-3882a00ca08b
Harvest Source Id 2b80d118-ab3a-48ba-bd93-996bbacefac2
Harvest Source Title DOI USGS DCAT-US
Metadata Type geospatial
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash 11db35f27201d23bd58f57c904385dcc12f33cca69716588c02f1b41aedf188a
Source Schema Version 1.1

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