Carp
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 Common carp, Cyprinus carpio
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Abramis |
Carp is a common name for various freshwater fishes of the family Cyprinidae, a very large group of fishes that dominates the fish faunas of Eurasia and North America. 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 where they are often considered pests.
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[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 good water, carp can be riddled with small bones in unpredictable locations. Most carp have a fishy taste and are not considered to be good for eating in North America, although they are popular in restaurants in Japan and Taiwan where the fish are also considered to be signs of good fortune. The common carp is one of the most aquacultured consumption fish in the world, produced in the hundreds of thousands of tons annually. Carp is a traditional Christmas Eve dish in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany, Croatia, Hungary and Poland.
Carp have food and angling value that is celebrated in some parts of the world. The carp has not yet gained gamefish status in the U.S. and are considered garbage among bass fisherman. In Europe on the other hand they are a trophy fish and lake owners are prepared to pay as much as £4000 or $7500 dollars for 40lb carp if fisherman fish for them on a catch and release basis.
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 fertiliser, 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 fertilise 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
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) was kept as ornamental fish in China for hundreds of years before it was 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 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 submergent 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.
[edit] Types of carp
- Genus Abramis
- Carp bream (Abramis brama)
- Genus Aristichthys:
- Bighead carp (Aristichthys nobilis)
- Genus Barbodes:
- Carnatic carp (Barbodes carnaticus)
- Genus Carassius:
- Crucian carp (Carassius carassius )
- Prussian carp (Carassius gibelio)
- Goldfish (Carassius auratus)
- Genus Cirrhinus:
- Chinese mud carp (Cirrhinus chinensis)
- Deccan white carp (Cirrhinus fulungee)
- Hora white carp (Cirrhinus macrops)
- Small scale mud carp (Cirrhinus microlepis)
- Mud carp (Cirrhinus molitorella)
- Genus Ctenopharyngodon:
- Grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idellus)
- Genus Culter:
- Predatory carp (Culter erythropterus)
- Genus Cyprinus:
- Common carp, Koi (Cyprinus carpio)
- Genus Epalzeorhynchos:
- Red-tailed black shark (Epalzeorhynchos bicolor)
- Red-finned black shark or Rainbow shark (Epalzeorhynchos frenatus)
- Genus Henicorhynchus:
- Siamese mud carp (Henicorhynchus siamensis)
- Genus Hypophthalmichthys:
- Silver carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix)
- Genus Labeo:
- African carp (Labeo coubie)
- Fringed-lipped peninsula carp (Labeo fimbriatus)
- Bigmouth carp (Labeo kontius)
- Genus Mylopharyngodon:
- Black carp (Mylopharyngodon piceus)
[edit] In Legend
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.
[edit] See also
- Oily fish
- Asian carp (a term used for one of 5 different species of carp)
