This data was generated from a study in which five experiments were conducted that tested whether and how dissolved chemicals might assist food recognition in two filter-feeding fishes, the silver (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix) and the bighead carp (H. nobilis). The buccal-pharngeal pumping (BPP), a behavior in which fish pump water into their buccal cavities, was observed in both silver and bighead carps after exposure to a a variety of food filtrates and mixtures. In addition, occlusion experiments to determine if the olfactory sense has a very important, but not exclusive, role in bigheaded carp feeding behaviors were conducted.

These data pertain to behavior trials conducted on three different species of invasive carp in a laboratory setting between the dates of 29 April 2021 to 14 December 2021. The three species tested were grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon Idella), bighead carp (Hypophthalmichthys nobilis) and silver carp (H. molitrix). The amino acids L-alanine, L-arginine, L-aspartic acid, and L‑glutamic acid were selected for this study to analyze how exposure may impact fish behavior, with a specific focus on avoidance and attraction. Each trial involved two individuals of the same species being exposed to one amino acid and a control water. Water inputs were on each end of the long exposure chamber and drained in the center to maintain a delineation between amino acid and the control water. For each combination of species (3 total) and amino acid (4 total), we performed 10 replicates, totaling 120 trials with each trial utilizing two fish (240 individuals). The chamber and fish were recorded from overhead video cameras and fish movement and position within the chamber determined using tracking software. After the software provided the initial tracking analysis, additional manual tracking was done to address any errors that occurred due to fish overlap. Of the 120 trials conducted, 69 trials, 5 to 7 from each combination of species × amino acid, were randomly chosen and manually examined and tracked, thus fixing identity swapping for those trials. The complete set of data were not manually tracked due to limited resources; questions related to average location could still be answered without tracking the identity of each fish.

These data pertain to behavior trials conducted on three different species of invasive carp in a laboratory setting between the dates of 29 April 2021 to 14 December 2021. The three species tested were grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon Idella), bighead carp (Hypophthalmichthys nobilis) and silver carp (H. molitrix). The amino acids L-alanine, L-arginine, L-aspartic acid, and L‑glutamic acid were selected for this study to analyze how exposure may impact fish behavior, with a specific focus on avoidance and attraction. Each trial involved two individuals of the same species being exposed to one amino acid and a control water. Water inputs were on each end of the long exposure chamber and drained in the center to maintain a delineation between amino acid and the control water. For each combination of species (3 total) and amino acid (4 total), we performed 10 replicates, totaling 120 trials with each trial utilizing two fish (240 individuals). The chamber and fish were recorded from overhead video cameras and fish movement and position within the chamber determined using tracking software. After the software provided the initial tracking analysis, additional manual tracking was done to address any errors that occurred due to fish overlap. Of the 120 trials conducted, 69 trials, 5 to 7 from each combination of species × amino acid, were randomly chosen and manually examined and tracked, thus fixing identity swapping for those trials. The complete set of data were not manually tracked due to limited resources; questions related to average location could still be answered without tracking the identity of each fish.

Using juvenile individuals of 3 species of carp (Family: Cyprinidae), we tested the potential for six amino acids to elicit an extracellular electro-olfactory response within the naris using gelatin-based electrodes. The amino acids L-alanine, L-arginine, L-aspartic acid, L-asparagine, L-glutamine, and L‑glutamic acid were tested on Grass Carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella), Bighead Carp (Hypophthalmichthys nobilis), and Silver Carp (H. molitrix) to provide a comparison among amino acids both within and among species. Each row in the data set represents exposure to a single amino acid. Each individual fish was exposed to up to four amino acids sequentially in a random order, representing a trial; each individual was a subject for exactly one trial. The response metric was the measured response peak, in millivolts, corrected by subtracting the mean baseline during exposure to well water 60 seconds prior to the amino acid response. The baseline-corrected, absolute value of the response to ultrapure, deionized (UDI or “Nanopure”) water immediately preceding a trial is also included. Other relevant factors that could influence measured individual response, such as number of times electrodes were repositioned within a trial (n = 4 repositions across 76 trials), nominal concentration of amino acid solutions, fish mass, holding tank temperature, and flow rate of water and amino acid solutions over the naris are included. Identifying data, namely date of trial and an individual subject ID (equivalent to a trial ID), are also included.

Inferences about ecological structure and function are often made using elemental or macromolecular tracers of food web structure. For example, inferences about food chain length are often made using stable isotope ratios of top predators and consumer food sources are often inferred from both stable isotopes and fatty acid (FA) content in consumer tissues. The use of FAs as tracers implies some degree of macromolecular conservation across trophic interactions, but many FAs are critically important for particular physiological functions and animals may selectively retain or extract these critical FAs from food resources. Here, we compared spatial variation in two taxa that feed on the same (or similar) food resources to assess which FAs appear to be responding to a common gradient in food resources. Filter feeding caddisflies (Family Hydropyschidae) and dreissenid mussels (Genus Dreissena) both consume seston, and had similar spatial variation in stable isotopes (C and N) across 13 sites in the Great Lakes region of North America. Only one of forty-one FAs measured showed strong spatial co-variance in these taxa (α-linolenic acid; ALA), indicating other FAs are responding to other environmental gradients in at least one of these taxa. Based on other experimental studies, ALA does appear to be driven by food availability in caddisflies, so it seems likely that ALA spatial co-variance reflects spatial variation in this food resource in this study. We conclude that inferences made using FAs as tracers of food web structure may be very sensitive to the individual taxa studied.

Inferences about ecological structure and function are often made using elemental or macromolecular tracers of food web structure. For example, inferences about food chain length are often made using stable isotope ratios of top predators and consumer food sources are often inferred from both stable isotopes and fatty acid (FA) content in consumer tissues. The use of FAs as tracers implies some degree of macromolecular conservation across trophic interactions, but many FAs are critically important for particular physiological functions and animals may selectively retain or extract these critical FAs from food resources. Here, we compared spatial variation in two taxa that feed on the same (or similar) food resources to assess which FAs appear to be responding to a common gradient in food resources. Filter feeding caddisflies (Family Hydropyschidae) and dreissenid mussels (Genus Dreissena) both consume seston, and had similar spatial variation in stable isotopes (C and N) across 13 sites in the Great Lakes region of North America. Only one of forty-one FAs measured showed strong spatial co-variance in these taxa (α-linolenic acid; ALA), indicating other FAs are responding to other environmental gradients in at least one of these taxa. Based on other experimental studies, ALA does appear to be driven by food availability in caddisflies, so it seems likely that ALA spatial co-variance reflects spatial variation in this food resource in this study. We conclude that inferences made using FAs as tracers of food web structure may be very sensitive to the individual taxa studied.

This data set contains auditory evoked potentials for four species of invasive carp; silver carp, black carp, grass carp, bighead carp, as well as goldfish (100-150 millimeters in total length) and behavioral thresholds on goldfish in a tank (dimensions 240 centimeters X 100 centimeters; depth of 25 centimeters) at the Columbia Environmental Research Center, Columbia, MO USA. Ambient sound and experimental tones were recorded using a hydrophone (STD 300; Ocean Instruments, Auckland, NZ) located where fish were placed in the experimental setup. Auditory evoked potentials were collected using a signal processor and bioamplifier (RZ6 and 4Z, Tucker-Davis Technology, Florida, USA) and recorded using the BioSigRZ software (Tucker-Davis Technology, Florida, USA). The stimulus was 100 ms tone bursts at 300, 500, 800, 1000, and 1500 Hz with a cosine-squared gate and 10 ms rise and fall time. Behavioral thresholds were collected for goldfish. To determine threshold, tones were presented to a conditioned fish beginning at approximately 30 decibels (dB) re 1 micropascal above the expected threshold. Each time the goldfish showed detection (suppressing respiration), the tone was lowered by 10 dB. When the fish did not respond, the tone level was increased by 5 dB for a final presentation. Water temperature of the tank was collected with a data logger (HOBO data logger, OnSet, Massachusetts, USA).

Data set includes water Sr:Ca, Ba:Ca, and δ18O for the Mississippi River and tributaries, and otolith Sr:Ca, Ba:Ca, and δ18O data from bigheaded carp (Silver Carp and BIghead Carp) collected in navigation pools 16-19 of the Upper Mississippi River in 2016 to 2018. Bigheaded carp (Bighead Carp and Silver Carp) are invasive species in the US and have spread throughout most of the lower Mississippi River Basin. Population abundance upstream of Lock and Dam 19 (LD19) on the Upper Mississippi River (UMR) has likely been limited by the high-head dam at this location, which restricts all upstream fish passage to the lock chamber. To determine early-life environments of adult bigheaded carp captured upstream LD19 at the invasion front, in an area of intense management (Pools 16-19), we measured otolith (lapillus) stable isotope composition and elemental microchemistry of 146 Silver Carp (n = 77 females and n = 69 males) and 141 Bighead Carp (n = 76 females and n = 65 males). Otolith oxygen isotope ratios (δ18O) and elemental ratios (Sr:Ca and Ba:Ca) were compared to values of isotope and elemental ratios in water from putative early-life environments to assign early-life environment for each fish.

Invasive carp pose substantial economic and ecological damage when populations are widespread in freshwater systems within the United States of America (USA). Resource managers in the USA have a limited number of chemical control tools to selectively remove nuisance fish. The present study examined whether Antimycin-A (antimycin) wax encapsulated microparticles could cause selective lethality to invasive carps in a series of laboratory trials, controlled outdoor pond trials, and an experimental pond trial. Datasets include water quality, fish biometrics, fish survival, yttrium consumption, and antimycin microparticle dissipation data.

Invasive carp pose substantial economic and ecological damage when populations are widespread in freshwater systems within the United States of America (USA). Resource managers in the USA have a limited number of chemical control tools to selectively remove nuisance fish. The present study examined whether Antimycin-A (antimycin) wax encapsulated microparticles could cause selective lethality to invasive carps in a series of laboratory trials, controlled outdoor pond trials, and an experimental pond trial. Datasets include water quality, fish biometrics, fish survival, yttrium consumption, and antimycin microparticle dissipation data.