Feed the Giant Fish After Your Tour of Bridal Cave
Once your Bridal Cave tour has ended, the fun's not quite over yet. After you make your way through our scenic mid-Missiouri cave, the tour guides will provide all of the children in the group with free fish food to toss to the giant, hungry grass carp that are always swimming around our dock.
These gigantic fish are always hanging around, looking for a handout. In the wild, the diet for these herbivores will consist of a variety of plant matter. The young feed mostly on small crustaceans and other invertebrates. As they get bigger, they will mainly eat aquatic vegetation, but may also eat a wide variety of plant and animal material, including filamentous algae.
The appetite of the grass carp is huge, and it is no problem for them to eat food equal to their body weight every day. Here at the Lake of the Ozarks, you will find these carp around most docks, especially at waterfront restaurants. Those particular fish will eat just about any leftovers that you choose to toss them. They especially love french fries! The strange thing is, the carp's digestive system isn't very efficient, so over half of their food passes through them undigested.
They are a large member of the minnow family. Their bodies are thick and silvery, with a broad, blunt head and a short, pointed dorsal fin. You will usually see them anywhere from 12 to 24 inches long, but some reach a whopping 48 inches, and they can weigh up to 50 pounds or more. Some live as long as 20 years.
Grass carp are actually native to eastern Asia, but they were introduced to the U.S.A. in the early 1960's. Many are stocked in ponds and lakes to control vegetation, but occasionally they can remove too much vegetation due to their voracious appetites, ruining the habitats of some game fish.
The next time that you pay a visit or our Lake of the Ozarks family attraction, be sure to stop and enjoy this wildlife. Watching the grass carp swim around the lake is an entertaining experience. Once you are done with them, if you have already taken the Bridal Cave tour, there is an entire Thunder Mountain Park to explore, full of its own beautiful wildlife.
These gigantic fish are always hanging around, looking for a handout. In the wild, the diet for these herbivores will consist of a variety of plant matter. The young feed mostly on small crustaceans and other invertebrates. As they get bigger, they will mainly eat aquatic vegetation, but may also eat a wide variety of plant and animal material, including filamentous algae.
The appetite of the grass carp is huge, and it is no problem for them to eat food equal to their body weight every day. Here at the Lake of the Ozarks, you will find these carp around most docks, especially at waterfront restaurants. Those particular fish will eat just about any leftovers that you choose to toss them. They especially love french fries! The strange thing is, the carp's digestive system isn't very efficient, so over half of their food passes through them undigested.
Grass carp are actually native to eastern Asia, but they were introduced to the U.S.A. in the early 1960's. Many are stocked in ponds and lakes to control vegetation, but occasionally they can remove too much vegetation due to their voracious appetites, ruining the habitats of some game fish.
The next time that you pay a visit or our Lake of the Ozarks family attraction, be sure to stop and enjoy this wildlife. Watching the grass carp swim around the lake is an entertaining experience. Once you are done with them, if you have already taken the Bridal Cave tour, there is an entire Thunder Mountain Park to explore, full of its own beautiful wildlife.
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526 Bridal Cave Road
Camdenton, MO 65020
(573) 346-2676
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