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Arkansas teen's jaw broken by flying fish
15-year old Arkansas teen, Seth Russell, was knocked unconscious and his jaw was broken when a Silver Asian carp flew out of the waters of Lake Chicot, striking him square in the face.
"He doesn't remember anything at all," the boy's mother, Linda Russell, said last week. "He was laughing, and the next thing he remembers, he is waking in a hospital."
The teen has had oral surgery to wire several teeth together and still experiences back pain that doctors attribute to whiplash from the high-speed collision, his mother said.
He's not the only one who's has a run-in with the "flying" Silver Asian carp.
"They do not fly, but they are quite good jumpers," said Carole Engle, director of aquaculture and the fisheries center at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff. "Over the past year, we have had some calls about fish jumping and causing injuries on Lake Chicot.
"Their jumping behavior is a problem, and their population appears to be growing there," Engle said.
Silver Asian carp are not indigenous to Arkansas, or the United States. The fish were introduced to the United States by catfish farmers who used them to clean algae and other debris from their ponds. They were later included as part of an Environmental Protection Agency initiative to clean up polluted lakes and waterways throughout the continental United States.
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Alexandria, Virginia, United States -
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (9)
at 13:51 on September 8th, 2008
Tina Kells, I like this story. It's good stuff.
Nothing says Arkansas like a wet carp to the kisser lol
j/k arkansaians, put down the fish hooks and step away from the creel. lol
at 13:52 on September 8th, 2008
Ha ha,
Did you see the video? So many of them jumping around, it's nuts!
at 13:51 on September 8th, 2008
I thought it sounded crazy but then I saw the YouTube footage (attached above)... wow, those fish can jump!!!!
at 13:54 on September 8th, 2008
yeah and they're not the only fish that does that. America's funniest home videos showed one the other day where a bass jumped out and clobbered some guy in the boat
at 14:08 on September 8th, 2008
It looks like they're only jumping around the boat though - I wonder if they just do that when the water is disturbed?
at 14:11 on September 8th, 2008
I think it may have something to do with mating. Maybe not. It is really weird though.
at 15:53 on September 8th, 2008
They start jumping due to the vibration of the boat motor, and also a small electrical charge that the motor gives off.
at 15:49 on September 8th, 2008
Tina Kells, I like this story. It's good stuff. These fish are a real problem, I feel for the boy.
at 17:35 on September 8th, 2008
Silver Asian Carp jump when disturbed and/or threatened. It is a natural defense against predators in and out of the water. This Asian Carp (photo above) however is on the more "mild" side of life.
Becka has contributed a photo to this story.