Carp

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For other uses, see Carp (disambiguation).
Carp

Common carp, Cyprinus carpio
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Cypriniformes
Family: Cyprinidae
Genera

Abramis
Aristichthys
Barbodes
Carassius
Cirrhinus
Ctenopharyngodon
Cyprinus
Epalzeorhynchos
Henicorhynchus
Hypophthalmichthys
Labeo
Mylopharyngodon
and others

Carp is a common name for various freshwater fish of the family Cyprinidae, a very large group of fishes that dominates the fish faunas of Eurasia and North America. Carp are bottom feeders. Some consider all cyprinid fishes carp and the family Cyprinidae itself is often known as the carp family. In colloquial use, however, carp usually refers only to several larger cyprinid species such as Cyprinus carpio (common carp), Carassius carassius (Crucian carp), Ctenopharyngodon idella (grass carp), Hypophthalmichthys molitrix (silver carp), and Hypophthalmichthys nobilis (bighead carp). Carp have long been an important food fish to humans as well as popular ornamental fishes (see koi and goldfish). As a result, carp have been introduced to various locations.

Contents

  • 1 Human introductions of carp
  • 2 Eating and sport
  • 3 Ornamental carp
  • 4 Carp as pests
  • 5 Types of carp
  • 6 Connection to legends
  • 7 See also
  • 8 References
  • 9 External links and further readings

[edit] Human introductions of carp

Carp originate in Asia, and it was on carp that the first text on aquaculture, Fan Lee's "Treatise on Pisciculture," was written in 473 BCE. Carp were introduced to England from western Europe during the 13th century, when they were cultivated mainly by monks. They were subsequently introduced into North America in 1877. Fish were released in ponds in Druid Hill Park in Baltimore, Maryland. Later, surplus populations were released in Washington D.C.. This was a project of Rudolf Hessel, a fish culturist in the employ of the United States Government. There was substantial favorable publicity and carp were widely introduced throughout the United States. Introduced Carp readily adapted to their new environment, spreading rapidly throughout any drainage area in which they were released. Carp have since become naturalized in almost every water in which they were introduced.

[edit] Eating and sport

While tasty when grown in clean water, carp tend to have small bones and fish that live in muddy waters can acquire a muddy flavor.[1] The value of carp as food varies. In China, Japan, and Taiwan carp are esteemed as food fish and are also considered to be signs of good fortune, so are often served at banquets and other formal meals.[citation needed] In Central and Eastern Europe, carp are also much appreciated, and are traditionally eaten on Christmas Eve in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany, Croatia, Hungary and Poland.[citation needed] In the Australia, UK and North America, on the other hand, carp are rarely eaten.[citation needed] The common carp is one of the most aquacultured consumption fish in the world, produced in the hundreds of thousands of tons annually.

Carp are similarly variable in terms of angling value. In Europe even when not fished for as food they are eagerly sought out by anglers, being considered wily fish that are difficult to hook.[1] Lake owners are prepared to pay as much as £4000 for 40lb carp if fisherman fish for them on a catch and release basis.[citation needed] In the United States, on the other hand, the carp has not yet gained gamefish status and in the northern states at least is sometimes considered a trash fish of no value.[2]

Carp are an important subsistence aquaculture product, and have been cultivated in complex polycultures since the 7th century AD. Grass carp, silver carp and common carp were common during the Tang dynasty in China (618-907 AD) due to their dissimilar feeding habits. Grass carp are fairly unique in that they eat live plant matter with pharyngeal grinding teeth, on which they will feed continuously at the proper temperatures, consuming several times their body weight in grass per day. The other two species are filter feeders, herbivorous and omnivorous respectively. These are often used in a grass/fish polyculture, but historically one of the important food production systems in China has, on a subsistence level, been rice/fish culture. The fish provide not only human nutrition, but crop fertilizer, and can increase rice yields per hectare. However, this system tends to be compatible only with small operations using genotypically lower-yielding tall rice varieties and is not feasible on a commercial scale. Other polycropping systems involving carp include livestock/carp (in which livestock wastes fertilize carp ponds, or more indirectly fertilize row crops whose green manure fertilises the ponds), and carp/sericulture (in which pond silt is used to fertilize mulberry trees that support silkworm populations.

[edit] Ornamental carp

Different colorations of koi

Carp, along with many of their cyprinid relatives, are popular ornamental aquarium and pond fish. The two most notable ornamental carps are goldfish and koi. Goldfish (Carassius auratus) were kept as ornamental fish in China for hundreds of years before being introduced to Japan in the 15th century, and to Europe in the late 17th century. The koi, a domesticated variety of common carp (Cyprinus carpio), was also originated from China and widely spread in Japan. The koi are historically a prevalent symbol in Japanese culture of good luck. They are shown in fish shows like those at the All Japan show. They are also popular in other parts of the world as pond fish. Goldfish and koi have advantages over most ornamental fishes, as they are tolerant of cold (they can survive in temperatures as low as 4 degrees Celsius), and can survive low oxygen levels.

[edit] Carp as pests

Carp gather near a dock in Lake Powell

Carp have been introduced, often illegally, into many countries. In some countries, due to their habit of grubbing through bottom sediments for food and alteration of their environment, they destroy, uproot and disturb submerged vegetation causing serious damage to native duck and fish populations. In Australia there is enormous anecdotal and mounting scientific evidence that introduced carp are the cause of permanent turbidity and loss of submerged vegetation in the Murray-Darling river system, with severe consequences for river ecosystems, water quality and native fish species.

Efforts to eradicate a small colony from Tasmania's Lake Crescent without chemicals have been successful, however the long-term, expensive and intensive undertaking is an example of the both the possibility and difficulty of safely removing the species once it is established.

Carp have attributes that allow them to be an invasive species - a species that invades and dominates new ecosystems with serious negative effects to the ecosystem and native fauna, earning the reputation as "rough fish".

[edit] Types of carp

Carp swarm in great numbers to eat feed thrown by tourists in Urfa, Turkey.

[edit] Connection to legends

In Chinese Mythology, there is said to be a place called Dragon's Gate. Dragon's Gate resides at the top of a waterfall. It is said if a carp can jump over the waterfall from the waters below, it will become a beautiful dragon.