State officials are reporting that environmental DNA samples from two rivers in southwestern Michigan show no signs of Asian carp.
The Michigan Department of Natural Resources says Friday that none of the 260 samples collected May 1 from the St. Joseph and Kalamazoo rivers indicate the presence of genetic material for silver or bighead carp.
Officials say concern over the invasive fish is high in Michigan following the June 22 capture of a live silver carp in a Chicago-area waterway. It was caught about 9 miles (14 kilometers) from Lake Michigan and beyond an electric barrier system designed to keep Asian carp from entering the Great Lakes.
The fish have voracious appetites for plankton — tiny plants and animals on which nearly all fish depend at some point in life.
