Ecological Risk Screening Summary - Black Carp (Mylopharyngodon piceus) - Uncertain Risk

Species that are considered uncertain risk need a more in-depth assessment beyond the Risk Summary to better define the species’ risk to U.S. environments.

Mylopharyngodon piceus is a freshwater cyprinid fish native to rivers, lakes and streams of China and Vietnam. It has been introduced into Europe, West-Central Asia, and North America for aquaculture purposes or accidentally through contamination of imported grass carp stock. M. piceus has escaped captivity and established populations in central North America, Japan, and multiple countries in West-Central Asia. Impacts of introduction are poorly studied, although significant concerns have been stated, as summarized well by CABI (2019): “Establishment of M. piceus in the wild could have serious adverse impacts, due to predation on native mollusc species, including threatened and endangered species and fingernail clam populations, a primary food source of migrating waterfowl and fish. M. piceus are hosts to parasites, flukes, bacterial and viral diseases. It could possibly transfer these to other fish species. It serves as intermediate host for human parasites (e.g. schistosoma), or parasites relevant to fish culture, such as the yellow and white grubs in channel catfish and stripe bass farming.” Despite these concerns, the lack of documented and defensible realized impacts of M. piceus introduction necessitates assessing the history of invasiveness as “none documented.” Additionally, certainty of the assessment is low because of the lack of information on impacts of introduction. M. piceus has a high climate match with the contiguous United States, particularly within the area where it is already established (Mississippi River drainage). The overall risk assessment for this species is “uncertain.”