Leaping Silver carp breaks teenager's jaw

A leaping Silver carp has broken the jaw of an American teenager, covering him in fish blood and guts in the process.

Fifteen-year old Seth Russell was floating down Lake Chicot in southeastern Arkansas on an inner tube being towed by a boat when a leaping Silver carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix) knocked him in the face, rendering him unconscious.

According to his mother, Linda Russell, Seth ...was laughing, and the next thing he remembers, he is waking in a hospital.

The injured teen required oral surgery to wire several teeth together and still experiences back pain that doctors attribute to whiplash from the high-speed collision, his mother continued.

According to director of aquaculture and the fisheries center at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff Carole Engle, the carp ...do not fly, but they are quite good jumpers.

"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.

Silver carp were introduced to the United States from East Asia in the 1970s, where they have since proliferated.