“In terms of their evolution, it’s certainly not unheard of for a species to be able to undergo in some level of microevolution to become adapted to new environments relatively quickly.”

The Asian carp was first recorded in the United States in the 1970s. The fish is found in the Mississippi River and its tributaries, including the Wabash River.

“The ecological concern is that they can out-compete native fish that are also planktivores,” he says. “By that I mean fish or other organism that specialize on eating very small plants and animals in the water column. That’s what these guys do.”