TRAVERSE CITY -- Scientists say an Asian carp discovered near Lake Michigan may have been planted there, instead of evading an electronic barrier meant to keep the species out of the Great Lakes.
The six-year-old bighead carp was caught in June in Lake Calumet on Chicago's South Side.
It was the first actual Asian carp found above the barrier, although scientists have reported detecting their DNA there.
The discovery has intensified calls to separate the man-made link at Chicago between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River basins.
"You know the fact that it may have been here for three years at least raises a lot of questions of has this fish had any offspring? How many other carp are in the Great Lakes already because this one has been here for so long," said Jeff Knott, of the Watershed Center Grand Traverse Bay.
Specialists at Southern Illinois University Carbondale say tests and analysis suggest the 3-foot-long bighead may have spent nearly all its life above the barrier and could have been planted by humans.
