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Evidence of Asian carp spawning above a key choke point in the Mississippi River: Data

Metadata Updated: October 28, 2025

Bighead Carp, Silver Carp and Grass Carp (collectively Asian carp) were introduced to North America in the 1960s and 70s and have established in the lower Mississippi River basin. Previously published evidence for spawning of these species has been limited in the upper Mississippi River to just below Dam 22 (near Saverton, MO). In 2013 and 2014, we sampled ichthyoplankton at 18 locations in the main stem of the upper Mississippi River from Dam 9 through Dam 19 and in four tributary rivers that empty into the Mississippi River (Des Moines, Skunk, Iowa and Wisconsin Rivers). We identified eggs and larvae using morphological techniques and then used genetic tools to confirm species identity. The spawning events we observed often included more than one species of Asian carp and in a few cases included eggs that must have been derived from more than one upstream spawning event. The upstream extent of genetically confirmed Grass Carp was Pool 12, while Bighead Carp and Silver Carp were observed in Pool 16. In all these cases, ichthyoplankton likely drifted downstream for several kilometers prior to collection. As has been observed elsewhere, no eggs or larvae were collected prior to water temperature reaching 17°C and discharge was usually high when eggs or larvae were observed. Several major spawning events were observed in 2013, but not in 2014. Although reproduction appears to be occurring for all three of these species above Dam 19, the recruitment success of these populations is unknown.

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 12, 2025
Metadata Updated Date October 28, 2025

Metadata Source

Harvested from DOI USGS DCAT-US

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date September 12, 2025
Metadata Updated Date October 28, 2025
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Maintainer
Identifier http://datainventory.doi.gov/id/dataset/usgs-59a411d4e4b077f00567324b
Data Last Modified 2022-04-28T00:00:00Z
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 298ce39d-ebd6-4048-b484-616c3790c7e7
Harvest Source Id 2b80d118-ab3a-48ba-bd93-996bbacefac2
Harvest Source Title DOI USGS DCAT-US
Metadata Type geospatial
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash 501d7c52734a48fedd0841101220c45b5e3f26a9ee8803a0927421c8f3b0ad9d
Source Schema Version 1.1

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