--- title: Mississippi Floods Could Spread the Invasive Asian Carp description: Like all great supervillains, the Asian carp have their origin story. The fish were imported from Asia—where they've been raised in aquaculture for thousands of... canonical: https://time.com/archive/7220329/mississippi-floods-could-spread-the-invasive-asian-carp/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2011-06-10T20:38:05.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-18T15:12:27.624Z article:section: Science og:title: Mississippi Floods Could Spread the Invasive Asian Carp og:description: Like all great supervillains, the Asian carp have their origin story. The fish were imported from Asia—where they've been raised in aquaculture for thousands of... og:url: https://time.com/archive/7220329/mississippi-floods-could-spread-the-invasive-asian-carp/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Mississippi Floods Could Spread the Invasive Asian Carp twitter:description: Like all great supervillains, the Asian carp have their origin story. The fish were imported from Asia—where they've been raised in aquaculture for thousands of... twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Science](/section/science/) # Mississippi Floods Could Spread the Invasive Asian Carp by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) Jun 10, 2011 8:38 PM UTC by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) Jun 10, 2011 8:38 PM UTC Like [all great supervillains](http://marvel.com/universe/Magneto%5F%28Max%5FEisenhardt%29), the Asian carp have their origin story. The fish were imported from Asia—where they’ve been raised in aquaculture for thousands of years—to the Midwest in the 1970s, where [they were used in fish farms](http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2010202,00.html). When the waters around the Mississippi flooded in the spring, however, so would those farms—and at least some of the carp were able to escape the river system, where they’ve since established themselves. Since then the Asian carp have been making their way north towards the Great Lakes—and being the marine equivalent of vacuum cleaners, they could sweep the lakes clean of other life forms if they manage to gain a finhold. And in the meantime, they do this: The government is spending tens of millions of dollars to prevent the carp from being the latest alien species to invade the Great Lakes. But the lakes aren’t the only territory in danger of being overrun by the fish, which can grow up to 110 lbs. [Scientists are worried](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/10/mississippi-river-floodin%5F0%5Fn%5F874944.html?view=print) that the unusually heavy spring floods along the Mississippi River may free a new battalion of Asian carp: --- > “” --- That’s not a good sign. The Mississippi’s spring floods have inundated an estimated 6.5 million acres along a 1,000 sq. mile stretch of the river from Missouri to south of Louisiana. The flooding has backed up farmland and catfish farms—and even though the brackish water would discourage most freshwater species, the Asian carp are more than capable of surviving the floods: --- > “” --- Given the sheer amount of destruction wrought by the floods, there’s not a whole lot that ecologists can do to prevent escapee carp from making a new home in the Mississippi system. In fact, it might be time to reconsider the war against the Asian carp and other invasive species. In a world that has been as ecologically mixed up as ours—thanks to climate change and human development—the distinction between invasive and natives doesn’t really [mean that much anymore](http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/06/species-persecution/). After all, when it comes to invasives, Asian carp are nothing next to another species that has proliferated into the billions, spread to every corner of the world and displaced other animals and plants and sucked up every available natural resource. They’re called human beings. More from TIME: [Lake Invaders](http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2010202,00.html) [Holy Carp! Flying Fish in Illinois](http://www.time.com/time/video/player/0,32068,541363358001%5F2010246,00.html) --- > “” --- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7220329/mississippi-floods-could-spread-the-invasive-asian-carp/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7220329/mississippi-floods-could-spread-the-invasive-asian-carp/"},"headline":"Mississippi Floods Could Spread the Invasive Asian Carp","datePublished":"2011-06-10T20:38:05.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-18T15:12:27.624Z","description":"Like all great supervillains, the Asian carp have their origin story. 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