"TURBULENT WATERS"

Prussian Carp & Raven - 11 Photos

Had been sitting by a small narrow creek, which is fed by a storm pond, late afternoon when I heard loud splashing coming from upstream. 

I thought, at first, that I had hit the jackpot & it was a mink fishing but when I looked down, there was no mink to be seen but a great deal of turbulent water. A few minutes passed and still no mink but then moving downstream I saw them. I am no fish expert but these are so distinguishable - Prussian Carp and there were dozens of them. There were so many and their activity so intense, that the creek water, for lack of a better term, was boiling (Photo #1 through to Photo #6). The fish below the surface have almost an eel like appearance, because of the lighting & positioning. 

Prussian Carp are an invasive fish species in Alberta and Saskatchewan and unfortunately, this school was spawning, hence the frantic behaviour. What started with so much "enthusiasm", gradually tapered off after almost an hour. And unlike salmon, who die after they spawn, Prussian Carp do not. Once spawning was complete, the fish completely disappeared.  According to my brief research, they can live 5 to 10 years and spawn several times a year. And a female Prussian Carp does not need the sperm of a male Prussian Carp to reproduce, although in this instance, there appeared to be an abundance of both sexes. They can reproduce asexually by exploiting the sperm of other fish species, to activate egg development & giving rise to basically female clones. 

Another frightening discovery that has appeared in some research is that it now appears some Prussian Carp eggs can survive going through Mallard Duck digestive systems. This might be another reason why these fish can seem to jump from one isolated storm pond to another. 

The good news is that herons, pelicans, birds and mammals like the mink all have a voracious appetite for the invader. If I had had the equivalent of the "Bat Signal" for a mink, I definitely would have lit it up in the hopes of bringing in a mink for an unbelievable feast.:) 

Alas, no mink but there were a few Ravens who had been attracted in by the disturbance & noise in the water. And as you will see from Photo #7 through Photo #11 , this particular Raven wasn't picking up dead fish (because there weren't any), it was fishing & plucking them out of the water. And they weren't small goldfish size by any means.

I am only an amateur naturalist but a suggestion might be to bring back another native predator to Calgary to assist in controlling carp populations in the Bow River, the much larger cousin to the mink, the river otter. The river otter is a native Alberta species and does live in other parts of Alberta, including Lethbridge. They are seen in Calgary but it's on rare occasions. Unfortunately, they were eliminated through trapping, etc. in the first part of the 20th century from the Bow River in Calgary. 

Their introduction would certainly be a great benefit to our eco-system in this and other ways as well.  Unfortunately, I believe this re-introduction will not happen do to the kick-back from some old school sport fishermen. I have heard, over the years, complaints from some fishermen about those damn pelicans (American White Pelicans) eating the fishing stock during the summer in the Bow. "Why are they here and why don't they stay where they belong???" is a common remark. And that's enough of my "soap box" commentary.

Let's give a huge thank you to all the wildlife super heroes out there, doing their part to reduce the number of Prussian Carp in our Alberta waterways. And that includes you, Raven!

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PHOTO #11