Rudd (Scardinius erythrophthalmus)

Synonyms: Redeye, Pearl roach

Description: Introduced to the United States in early 1900s as a food and game species; Arkansas fish farmers began culturing for bait industry in early 1980s.

Identification: Up to 19 inches; golden bronze body, white belly; bright red-orange fins; protruding lower jaw; iris of eye has a red spot above the pupil.

Habitat: Native to Europe and Central Asia. Prefer still, surface waters of shallow weedy shorelines in lakes, river backwaters, canals; seldom moves to open water.

Reproduction:

Impact and Damage: Can hybridize with golden shiners; this can cause genetic problems in wild shiner populations. Feeds heavily on aquatic plants, releasing nutrients that lower water quality; puts vulnerable native plant communities at risk; and in areas with rudd populations, native fish spawning is less successful.

Similar species: Native golden shiner (Notemigonus crysoleucas) has no scales on keel while the common rudd has a scaled keel along belly, from pelvic to anal fins.

Monitoring and rapid response: No known biological control methods. Fine-mesh monofilament gill nets have been used to control rudd in New Zealand but elimination was not achievable. Can be control using general use piscicides like antimycin A or rotenone. Increasing CO2 concentrations with sedate fish and can be a potential method of harvesting fish for removal.

Credits: The information provided in this factsheet was gathered from "Invaders of the Great Lakes" produced by Wildlife Forever and the Sea Grant Great Lakes Network.

Individual species images that appear with a number in a black box are courtesy of the Bugwood.org network (http://www.invasive.org). Individual photo author credits may not be included due to the small display size of the images and subsequent difficulty of reading the provided text. All other images appear courtesy of Google (http://images.google.com).

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