Are the voracious Asian carp already in Lake Erie?
Researchers have discovered environmental DNA, or eDNA for short, from Asian carp in western Lake Erie’s Maumee Bay, which is fed by the Maumee River running through Toledo.
“The three samples, all positive for silver carp eDNA, were found in Maumee Bay – two in Michigan waters and one in Ohio waters,” according to a Sept. 25 press release from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, which participated in the testing effort with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
As fish swim, they shed deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA, the specific set of genes that guide the development of all life. A special test can detect presence or absence of eDNA of specific fish in water samples.
By Jim Bloch Voice Reporter