Lake Mattamuskeet, North Carolina’s largest natural freshwater lake, has gone through a dramatic transformation, and the cause traces back to a fish most Americans have never heard of: the common carp. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s restoration project page, historic carp removal efforts during the 1940s and 1950s increased the lake’s water clarity from less than 0.5 feet to over 2 feet, more than a four-fold improvement, and allowed underwater grasses to expand across an estimated 16,000 acres of lakebed.
Why a bottom-feeder became public enemy number one
