I've seen a documentary on the subject about 2-3 years ago and i was realy awe struck by what i've seen , i remember seeing people being hit by the carps while hundreds of them were jumping out of the water disturbed by the motor board .

A truly astonishing site they said the Missisipi river was invaded by them from the golf of Mexico all the way through the Chicago river and the last frontier between them and the great lakes was that electrified barrier you mentioned .

The carps are bad food since they're full of small bones but a terrifying predator for other fish eventualy they will become the only fish standing in the Missisipi river onless some predators are introduces , but as you mentioned they can get very big as they grow .

From what i remeber asian people introduce them in rivers for good luck as it was mentioned that this behavior was observed in Canada and so far the only reason we don't talk so much about them is because the winter seems to slow their growth but they are adapted to conditions close to ours .

As for their introduction in the USA i'm not quite sure if it was done that way i seem to remember that they were first introduced in the Misssisipi delta along the gulf in order to control some other fish species or something like that .

I must have seen that documentary either on PBS or on 60 minutes on 2005 or 2006.

I remember the narrator mentioning widespread fears among authorities in the event they would manage to invade the great lakes and have a major impact on fishing as they totaly destroyed other fish population along the Missisipi river .

The main problem is the sale of carps in pet shops where asian born people will buy them as i said in order to release them in the wild for good fortune , it turns out to be bad fortune for the fishing industry, now there's a weapon of mass destruction .

I agree with you it should be passed on and asian people should be made aware that here it means bad luck.

Regards !

Tec