Species profile
Grass Carp
Ctenopharyngodon idella
At a glance
Grass Carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella) is a bony-fish species regulated in 19 of 66 jurisdictions tracked by CatchRules across the U.S. and Canada.
Bag limits are uniform at 1 per angler across the 2 regulating jurisdictions.
Confirmed by 1,552 research-grade iNaturalist observations, with Florida, Texas, and Ohio the top jurisdictions by observation count.
Notable details
- Native to eastern Asia, grass carp were introduced to North America in the 1960s specifically to control aquatic weeds.
- They can grow over 4 feet long and exceed 80 pounds, making them one of the largest members of the minnow family.
- Strict herbivores, grass carp can consume up to three times their body weight in aquatic vegetation per day.
- Sterile triploid grass carp are widely stocked across the US to prevent the species from establishing wild populations.
- They can live more than 20 years and are considered an invasive threat in many North American waterways.
Where Grass Carp are seen
Jurisdictions with rules for Grass Carp
Background
The grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella) is the species of fish with the largest reported production in aquaculture globally, over five million tonnes per year. It is a large herbivorous freshwater fish species of the family Cyprinidae native to eastern Asia, with a native range from northern Vietnam to the Amur River on the Siberia-China border. This Asian carp is the only species of the genus…
Background excerpt adapted from Wikipedia's Grass Carp article (CC BY-SA). Visit Wikipedia for the full entry.
Other bony fish on CatchRules
Photo credit: iNaturalist / Wikipedia. Identification reference only — verify regulations with the issuing wildlife agency before retaining a catch.