Common Carp Diet Includes Zebra Mussels and Lake Trout Eggs

ABSTRACT

Forty-seven common carp (Cyprinus carpio) were collected from harbors in southwestern Lake Michigan in 1993 and 1994, and their stomach contents were examined. Thirty-two of the carp contained zebra mussels; the proportion of carp feeding on mussels appeared to be related to the density of mussels at the site where they were collected. One of the only two carp collected during the lake trout spawning season on lake trout spawning habitat contained over 100 lake trout eggs. The fouling of cobble substrate by zebra mussels probably prevented the eggs from settling into interstitial spaces, thereby making the eggs vulnerable to carp predation.