How Did A 72-Pound Carp End Up In Humboldt Park’s Lagoon? Big Catch Could Be From A Decades-Old Mistake, Experts Say

Block Club Chicago ^ | 15 Nov 2021 | Mina Bloom

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The fish may have been accidentally dumped into the lagoon 20 years ago, one expert said.

But unlike Chance the Snapper, who experts quickly determined was an illegal pet released into the pond, Knize’s catch raises environmental questions: How did an enormous carp — an invasive species — get into the manmade lagoon? And what does its presence mean for the urban pond and vulnerable Lake Michigan?

Knize and his neighbor fought to get the beast out of the water, maneuvering it toward them as it tried to swim away. After 30 minutes of wrangling, they finally got it to shore, but it was so big they could barely lift it up. Knize’s neighbor had to run home to get a net that was large enough.

Irons, who managed the department’s carp program for a decade, said carp were accidentally introduced to the lagoon about 20 years ago. When a state-contracted fish hauler dumped a bunch of game fish in the lagoon for urban anglers like Knize, some carp found their way into the batch, he said.

Though carp are highly invasive, Knize’s catch doesn’t spell trouble for the lagoon, Irons said. A few carp won’t harm the lagoon — or any other ponds, for that matter — because carp only reproduce in flowing bodies of water like the Illinois River, he said.

Carp pose a great danger to the lake’s native aquatic environments because they consume much of the food that native fish normally eat. They have a ravenous appetite — they can eat 120 percent of their body weight in a day — and reproduce at a high rate: A single fish is capable of laying over 1 million eggs every year.

[usconservative]

Despite being name dropped on “Chicago PD” like it’s Lawndale or Englewood, it’s not a bad neighborhood.

You do know it's surrounded by bad neighborhoods, right?