I naturally occur in Asia in Pacific Ocean drainage channels from the Amur River Basin to the West-Pearl River Basin. I may also be found in eastern Russia and in northern Vietnam.

I was able to creep in the waters here in a few different ways. In the 1970s I was mixed into imported stocks of a cousin of mine, the grass carp. I was brought to control pond snails in catfish farms in the 1980s. People also brought me here as a food fish. I have been thought to establish populations in the wild only very recently.

Although I am used to control snails in fish farms, I can severely damage mollusk populations when released into the wild. Many of your native freshwater mollusks are already endangered, and when I get out I could possibly wipe out populations. Because I eat so many mollusks, I am competition to your native birds, turtles, fish, raccoons, otters and muskrats. I also may carry parasites and flukes that can infect other fish.

You can control me by destroying my captive stocks. There have also been attempts to get me onto a federal list of injurious wildlife species that would prohibit importing me into the United States.