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Sterile Grass Carp are placed in some ponds by some state fisheries management personnel, to this day, for vegetation control.

The sterilized fish are expensive.

I came across an article a while back that alleged there were more than a few carp which had not been successfully neutered, but sold under permit as if they had been neutered. It was a smallish scandal...

The Grass Carp I ate was far less bony than the Silver Carp, but in comparison, I thought the silver carp tasted a bit better, once I got past the bones.

Interesting. Thanks for the info.

Most of the uses I have seen for the sterilized grass carp seem to be in the range of 5-12 per acre of water. If their fishing is prohibited, and they get “big”, even that many will eat most of the vegetation in a pond — sometimes too much. In one of our local (state managed) ponds I think they actually need to take some out, because the pond has gone from too much vegetation to not enough...

BTW, as far as the taste goes, the grass carp pieces came from a bigger fish and I don’t know if the source (body of water) was the same for both. Plus there’s also personal preference: Some people really like crappie, but no one in my family ever acquired a taste for ‘em. At any rate, neither the silver carp or the grass carp tasted muddy or overly “fishy” to me. :-)