…the four Asian carp species in US waterways all have one thing in common: incredibly effective gills that can filter much smaller particles than the average native fish. So scientists at the USGS are trying to produce poison particles so small that only Asian carp pick them out of the water.
But small particles alone, which some other species can ingest, won't cut it for such a large and dispersed population of fish, so researchers are going one step further by putting the carp's unique digestive system to good use. "The particles are designed to be broken down, but only by the enzymes in the carp's gut," Chapman says. Other fish that might ingest the particles, such as largemouth bass or catfish, don't produce this enzyme, so they won't be affected. "And when carp break it down," he says, "they release the toxin and it causes them to die."….
"Carp eggs require a certain amount of drift in the water to survive," Chapman explains. "If the eggs settle to the bottom, it can have a lethal effect on the fish."
If researchers can build dams that only come up halfway to the water's surface, they might be able to interrupt the drift in the carp's favorite spawning locations. "….
Yet none of the current solutions are perfect, Irons says. And even if the methods in development turn out to be effective, "blocking the Chicago canal might still be necessary,"
Click on the following to read all of the story: America must kill this fish | The Verge
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