It sounds like a prank, but in parts of the US some boaters are wearing protective gear to avoid being knocked out by 10-kilogram fish launching from the water.

The invasive Asian carp are triggered by boat motors and can erupt “like fireworks”, according to commercial fisherman Clint Carter, who’s spent decades battling and being battered by them.

Injuries aren’t uncommon, with reports of broken noses, concussions and even hospitalisations as the aggressive fish quite literally fight back.

“My fishing partner, he got hit in the nose, broke his nose, has a glass eye from one. So yeah, they will do some damage,” Carter said.

But beneath the chaos lies a serious environmental crisis, with experts warning the species is outcompeting native fish and devastating ecosystems.

And it’s a battle Australia knows all too well, although with European carp. They have reached plague proportions across the Murray-Darling Basin, choking rivers and pushing native species to the brink.

Now, scientists are exploring a controversial potential solution, a carp herpes virus designed to drastically reduce their numbers.

Whether it’s high-tech barriers, biological controls or simply putting them on the menu, one thing is clear: These fish aren’t going down without a fight.