The Eurasian carp or European carp (''Cyprinus carpio''), widely known as the common carp, is a widespread freshwater
fish
Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of ...
of
eutrophic
Eutrophication is the process by which an entire body of water, or parts of it, becomes progressively enriched with minerals and nutrients, particularly nitrogen and phosphorus. It has also been defined as "nutrient-induced increase in phytoplan ...
waters in lakes and large rivers in Europe and Asia.
[Fishbase]
''Cyprinus carpio'' Linnaeus, 1758
/ref>[Arkive]
The native wild populations are considered vulnerable to extinction by the International Union for Conservation of Nature ( IUCN), but the species has also been domesticated
Domestication is a sustained multi-generational relationship in which humans assume a significant degree of control over the reproduction and care of another group of organisms to secure a more predictable supply of resources from that group. A ...
and introduced (see aquaculture) into environments worldwide, and is often considered a destructive invasive species,[ being included in the ]list of the world's 100 worst invasive species
100 of the World's Worst Invasive Alien Species is a list of invasive species compiled in 2014 by the Global Invasive Species Database, a database of invasive species around the world. The database is run by the Invasive Species Specialist Group ...
. It gives its name to the carp family, Cyprinidae.
Taxonomy
The two subspecies are:
* '' Cyprinus carpio carpio'', native to much of Europe (notably the Danube
The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , p ...
and Volga
The Volga (; russian: Во́лга, a=Ru-Волга.ogg, p=ˈvoɫɡə) is the longest river in Europe. Situated in Russia, it flows through Central Russia to Southern Russia and into the Caspian Sea. The Volga has a length of , and a catchm ...
rivers)[Jian Feng Zhou, Qing Jiang Wu, Yu Zhen Ye & Jin Gou Tong (2003). Genetic divergence between ''Cyprinus carpio carpio'' and ''Cyprinus carpio haematopterus'' as assessed by mitochondrial DNA analysis, with emphasis on origin of European domestic car]
''Genetica'' 119: 93–97
/ref>
* ''Cyprinus carpio yilmaz'', from Anatolia
Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The ...
n Turkey (notably around Çorum
Çorum () (Medieval Greek: Ευχάνεια, romanized: Euchaneia) is a northern Anatolian city that is the capital of the Çorum Province of Turkey. Çorum is located inland in the central Black Sea Region of Turkey, and is approximately from A ...
).
A third subspecies, '' Cyprinus carpio haematopterus'' (Amur carp), native to eastern Asia, was recognized in the past,[ but recent authorities treat it as a separate species under the name '']Cyprinus rubrofuscus
''Cyprinus rubrofuscus'', the Amur carp, is a species of cyprinid fish, and is the wild form of the well-known koi. It is widespread in the fresh waters of eastern Asia, native to China, Vietnam and Laos from the Amur to Red River basins, and ...
''.[Craig, J.F., eds. (2015). Freshwater Fisheries Ecology. p. 297. Wiley-Blackwell. .] The common carp and various Asian relatives in their pure forms can be separated by meristics Meristics is an area of ichthyology and herpetology which relates to counting quantitative features of fish and reptiles, such as the number of fins or scales. A meristic (countable trait) can be used to describe a particular species of fish, or us ...
and also differ in genetics
Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinian friar wor ...
, but they are able to interbreed
In biology, a hybrid is the offspring resulting from combining the qualities of two organisms of different breeds, varieties, species or genera through sexual reproduction. Hybrids are not always intermediates between their parents (such as in ...
. Common carp can also interbreed with the goldfish
The goldfish (''Carassius auratus'') is a freshwater fish in the family Cyprinidae of order Cypriniformes. It is commonly kept as a pet in indoor aquariums, and is one of the most popular aquarium fish. Goldfish released into the wild have bec ...
(''Carassius auratus''); the result is called Kollar carp
The Kollar carp (Cyprinus carpio x Carassius auratus) is a hybrid fish obtained by crossing common carp (''Cyprinus carpio'') and goldfish (''Carassius auratus''). Described by the Austrian zoologist Johann Jacob Heckel, its binomial name ...
.
History
The common carp is native to Europe and Asia and has been introduced to every part of the world except the poles. They are the third most frequently introduced (fish) species worldwide, and their history as a farmed fish dates back to Roman times. Carp are used as food in many areas but are also regarded as a pest in several regions due to their ability to out-compete native fish stocks. The original common carp was found in the inland delta of the Danube River
The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , pa ...
about 2000 years ago and was torpedo-shaped and golden-yellow in colour. It had two pairs of barbels and a mesh-like scale pattern. Although this fish was initially kept as an exploited captive, it was later maintained in large, specially built ponds by the Romans in south-central Europe (verified by the discovery of common carp remains in excavated settlements in the Danube delta area). As aquaculture became a profitable branch of agriculture, efforts were made to farm the animals, and the culture systems soon included spawning and growing ponds. The common carp's native range also extends to the Black Sea
The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Rom ...
, Caspian Sea
The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, often described as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. An endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia; east of the Caucasus, west of the broad steppe of Central Asia ...
, and Aral Sea.
Both European and Asian subspecies have been domesticated
Domestication is a sustained multi-generational relationship in which humans assume a significant degree of control over the reproduction and care of another group of organisms to secure a more predictable supply of resources from that group. A ...
.[ In Europe, domestication of carp as ]food fish
Food is any substance consumed by an organism for nutritional support. Food is usually of plant, animal, or fungal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals. The substance is ing ...
was spread by monks
A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedica ...
between the 13th and 16th centuries. The wild forms of carp had already reached the delta of the Rhine
), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland
, source1_coordinates=
, source1_elevation =
, source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein
, source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland
, source2_coordinates=
, so ...
in the 12th century, probably with some human help. Variants that have arisen with domestication include the mirror carp
Mirror carp, regionally known as Israeli carp, are a type of domesticated fish commonly found in Europe but widely introduced or cultivated elsewhere. They are a variety of the common carp (''Cyprinus carpio'') developed through selective breedin ...
, with large, mirror-like scales (linear mirror – scaleless except for a row of large scales that run along the lateral line; originating in Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
), the leather carp (virtually unscaled except near dorsal fin), and the fully scaled carp. Koi
or more specifically , are colored varieties of the Amur carp ('' Cyprinus rubrofuscus'') that are kept for decorative purposes in outdoor koi ponds or water gardens.
Koi is an informal name for the colored variants of ''C. rubrofuscus'' ke ...
carp (錦鯉 (''nishikigoi'') in Japanese, 鯉魚 (pinyin
Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Chinese, Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally writte ...
: ''lĭ yú'') in Chinese) is a domesticated ornamental variety that originated in the Niigata region of Japan in the 1820s, but its parent species are likely the East Asian carp, possibly '' C. rubrofuscus''.[
]
Physiology
The carp has a robust build, with a dark gold sheen most prominent on its head. Its body is adorned with large conspicuous scales that are very shiny. It has large pectoral fins and a tapering dorsal fin running down the last two thirds of its body, getting progressively higher as it nears the carp’s head. Its caudal and anal fins may either be a dark bronze or washed with a rubbery orange hue. The mouth of the carp is downwards-turned, with two pairs of barbels, the ones on the bottom being larger. Wild common carp are typically slimmer than domesticated forms, with body length about four times body height, red flesh, and a forward-protruding mouth. Common carp can grow to very large sizes if given adequate space and nutrients. Their average growth rate by weight is about half the growth rate of domesticated carp They do not reach the lengths and weights of domesticated carp, which (range, 3.2–4.8 times)[ can grow to a maximum length of , a maximum weight of over ,][ and an oldest recorded age of 38 years.][ The largest recorded carp, caught by British angler, Colin Smith, in 2013 at Etang La Saussaie Fishery, France, weighed . The average size of the common carp is around and .
]
Habitat
Although tolerant of most conditions, common carp prefer large bodies of slow or standing water and soft, vegetative sediments. As schooling fish, they prefer to be in groups of five or more. They naturally live in temperate
In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (23.5° to 66.5° N/S of Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ranges throughout ...
climates in fresh
Fresh or FRESH may refer to:
People
*DJ Fresh (born 1977), UK-based drum and bass artist
*DJ Fresh (producer), US-based R&B producer born Marqus Brown
Arts, entertainment, and media Films
* ''Fresh'' (1994 film), a crime film
* ''Fresh'' (200 ...
or slightly brackish
Brackish water, sometimes termed brack water, is water occurring in a natural environment that has more salinity than freshwater, but not as much as seawater. It may result from mixing seawater (salt water) and fresh water together, as in estu ...
water with a pH of 6.5–9.0 and salinity up to about 0.5%,Food and Agriculture Organization
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)french: link=no, Organisation des Nations unies pour l'alimentation et l'agriculture; it, Organizzazione delle Nazioni Unite per l'Alimentazione e l'Agricoltura is an intern ...
Fisheries & Aquaculture
Cultured Aquatic Species Information Programme – ''Cyprinus carpio''
/ref> and temperatures of .[ The ideal temperature is , with spawning beginning at ; they easily survive winter in a frozen-over pond, as long as some free water remains below the ice.][ Carp are able to tolerate water with very low oxygen levels, by gulping air at the surface.][
]
Diet
Common carp are omnivorous
An omnivore () is an animal that has the ability to eat and survive on both plant and animal matter. Obtaining energy and nutrients from plant and animal matter, omnivores digest carbohydrates, protein, fat, and fiber, and metabolize the nut ...
. They can eat a herbivorous diet of aquatic plants, but prefer to scavenge the bottom for insect
Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three ...
s, crustacean
Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean group can ...
s (including zooplankton
Zooplankton are the animal component of the planktonic community ("zoo" comes from the Greek word for ''animal''). Plankton are aquatic organisms that are unable to swim effectively against currents, and consequently drift or are carried along by ...
), crawfish, and benthic worms. Common carp feed throughout the day with the most intensive feeding at night and around sunrise.
Reproduction
An egg-layer, a typical adult female can lay 300,000 eggs in a single spawn
Spawn or spawning may refer to:
* Spawn (biology), the eggs and sperm of aquatic animals
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Spawn (character), a fictional character in the comic series of the same name and in the associated franchise
** '' Spawn: ...
. Although carp typically spawn in the spring, in response to rising water temperatures and rainfall, carp can spawn multiple times in a season. In commercial operations, spawning is often stimulated using a process called hypophysation, where lyophilized pituitary extract is injected into the fish. The pituitary extract contains gonadotropic hormones which stimulate gonad maturation and sex steroid production, ultimately promoting reproduction.
Predation
A single carp can lay over a million eggs in a year.[ Eggs and fry often fall victim to bacteria, fungi, and the vast array of tiny predators in the pond environment. Carp which survive to juvenile are preyed upon by other fish such as the ]northern pike
The northern pike (''Esox lucius'') is a species of carnivorous fish of the genus ''Esox'' (the pikes). They are typical of brackish and fresh waters of the Northern Hemisphere (''i.e.'' holarctic in distribution). They are known simply as a p ...
and largemouth bass
The largemouth bass (''Micropterus salmoides'') is a carnivorous freshwater gamefish in the Centrarchidae ( sunfish) family, a species of black bass native to the eastern and central United States, southeastern Canada and northern Mexico, bu ...
, and several bird
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...
s (including cormorants
Phalacrocoracidae is a family of approximately 40 species of aquatic birds commonly known as cormorants and shags. Several different classifications of the family have been proposed, but in 2021 the IOC adopted a consensus taxonomy of seven gen ...
, herons
The herons are long-legged, long-necked, freshwater and coastal birds in the family Ardeidae, with 72 recognised species, some of which are referred to as egrets or bitterns rather than herons. Members of the genera ''Botaurus'' and ''Ixobrychus ...
, goosander
The common merganser (North American) or goosander (Eurasian) (''Mergus merganser'') is a large seaduck of rivers and lakes in forested areas of Europe, Asia, and North America. The common merganser eats mainly fish. It nests in holes in trees.
...
s, and osprey
The osprey (''Pandion haliaetus''), , also called sea hawk, river hawk, and fish hawk, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey with a cosmopolitan range. It is a large raptor reaching more than in length and across the wings. It is brown o ...
s) and mammals (including otter and mink).
Introduction into other habitats
![LakePowellCarp5437](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/39/LakePowellCarp5437.jpg)
Common carp have been introduced to most continents and some 59 countries. In absence of natural predators or commercial fishing
Commercial fishing is the activity of catching fish and other seafood for commercial profit, mostly from wild fisheries. It provides a large quantity of food to many countries around the world, but those who practice it as an industry must often ...
, they may extensively alter their environments due to their reproductive rate and their feeding habit of grubbing through bottom sediments for food. In feeding, they may destroy, uproot, disturb and eat submerged vegetation, causing serious damage to native duck, such as canvasback
The canvasback (''Aythya valisineria'') is a species of diving duck, the largest found in North America.
Taxonomy
Scottish-American naturalist Alexander Wilson described the canvasback in 1814. The genus name is derived from Greek ''aithuia'', ...
s, and fish populations.
Carp were introduced to Australia over 150 years ago but were not seen as a recognised pest species until the ‘Boolarra’ strain appeared in the 1960s. After spreading massively through the Murray–Darling basin
The Murray–Darling basin is a large geographical area in the interior of southeastern Australia, encompassing the drainage basin of the tributaries of the Murray River, Australia's longest river, and the Darling River, a right tributary of ...
, aided by massive flooding in 1974, they have established themselves in every Australian territory except for the Northern Territory
The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory shares its borders with Western Aust ...
. In Victoria
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia
* Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada
* Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory
* Victoria, Seychelle ...
, the common carp has been declared a noxious fish species, and the quantity a fisher can take is unlimited. In South Australia
South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...
, it is an offence for this species to be released back to the wild. An Australian company produces plant fertilizer from carp.
Efforts to eradicate a small colony from Lake Crescent
Lake Crescent is a deep lake located entirely within Olympic National Park in Clallam County, Washington, United States, approximately west of Port Angeles on U.S. Route 101 and nearby to the small community of Piedmont. At an official ma ...
in Tasmania
)
, nickname =
, image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdi ...
, without using chemicals, have been successful, but the long-term, expensive and intensive undertaking is an example of both the possibility and difficulty of safely removing the species once it is established. One proposal, regarded as environmentally questionable, is to control common carp numbers by deliberately exposing them to the carp-specific koi herpes virus
''Cyprinid herpesvirus 3'' (also CyHV-3, koi herpes virus or KHV) is a species of virus causing a viral disease that is very contagious to the common carp ''Cyprinus carpio''.
Pathology
It is most commonly found in ornamental koi, which are of ...
with its high mortality rate. In 2016, the Australian Government announced plans to release this virus into the Murray–Darling basin
The Murray–Darling basin is a large geographical area in the interior of southeastern Australia, encompassing the drainage basin of the tributaries of the Murray River, Australia's longest river, and the Darling River, a right tributary of ...
in an attempt to reduce the number of invasive common carp in the water system. However, in 2020, this plan was found to be unlikely to work. The CSIRO has also developed a technique for genetically modifying carp so that they only produce male offspring. This daughterless carp method shows promise for totally eradicating carp from Australia's waterways.
Common carp were brought to the United States in 1831. In the late 19th century, they were distributed widely throughout the country by the government as a food-fish, but they are now rarely eaten in the United States, where they are generally considered pests. As in Australia, their introduction has been shown to have negative environmental consequences.
In Utah
Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...
, the common carp's population in Utah Lake
Utah Lake is a shallow freshwater lake in the center of Utah County, Utah, United States. It lies in Utah Valley, surrounded by the Provo- Orem metropolitan area. The lake's only river outlet, the Jordan River, is a tributary of the Great Salt ...
is expected to be reduced by 75 percent by using nets to catch millions of them, and either giving them to people who will eat them or processing them into fertilizer
A fertilizer (American English) or fertiliser (British English; see spelling differences) is any material of natural or synthetic origin that is applied to soil or to plant tissues to supply plant nutrients. Fertilizers may be distinct from ...
. This, in turn, will give the declining population of the native June sucker
The June sucker (''Chasmistes liorus'') is an endangered species of fish endemic to Utah Lake and the Provo River in the U.S. state of Utah. It is a gray or brownish fish with a paler belly, growing up to about . It lives alongside the Utah sucke ...
a chance to recover. Another method of control is to trap them with seine net
Seine fishing (or seine-haul fishing; ) is a method of fishing that employs a surrounding net, called a seine, that hangs vertically in the water with its bottom edge held down by weights and its top edge buoyed by floats. Seine nets can be de ...
s in tributaries they use to spawn, and exposing them to the piscicide
A piscicide is a chemical substance which is poisonous to fish. The primary use for piscicides is to eliminate a dominant species of fish in a body of water, as the first step in attempting to populate the body of water with a different fish. They ...
rotenone
Rotenone is an odorless, colorless, crystalline isoflavone used as a broad-spectrum insecticide, piscicide, and pesticide. It occurs naturally in the seeds and stems of several plants, such as the jicama vine plant, and the roots of several mem ...
. This method has been shown to reduce their impact within 24 hours and greatly increase native vegetation and desirable fish species. It also allows native fish to prey more easily on young carp.
Common carp are thought to have been introduced into the Canadian province of British Columbia
British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...
from Washington state. They were first noted in the Okanagan Valley
The Okanagan ( ), also known as the Okanagan Valley and sometimes as the Okanagan Country, is a region in the Canadian province of British Columbia defined by the basin of Okanagan Lake and the Canadian portion of the Okanagan River. It is p ...
in 1912, as was their rapid growth in population. Carp are currently distributed in the lower Columbia (Arrow Lakes
The Arrow Lakes in British Columbia, Canada, divided into Upper Arrow Lake and Lower Arrow Lake, are widenings of the Columbia River. The lakes are situated between the Selkirk Mountains to the east and the Monashee Mountains to the west. Bea ...
), lower Kootenay
Kootenay, Kootenai, and Kutenai may refer to:
Ethnic groups
*The Kutenai, also known as the Ktunaxa, Kootenai, or Kootenay, an indigenous people of the United States and Canada
**Kutenai language, the traditional language of the Kutenai
**Ktunaxa ...
, Kettle ( Christina Lake), and throughout the Okanagan system.
In 2020, scientists demonstrated that a small proportion of fertilized common carp eggs ingested by waterfowl survive passing through the digestive tract and hatch after being retrieved from the feces. Birds exhibit strong preference for fish eggs, while cyprinids produce hundreds of thousands of eggs at a single spawning event. These data indicate that despite the low proportion of eggs surviving the digestive tract of birds, endozoochory might provide a potentially overlooked dispersal mechanism of invasive cyprinid fish. If proven under natural circumstances, endozoochorous dispersal of invasive fish could be a strong conservation concern for freshwater biodiversity.
Common carp aquaculture
Common carp contributed around 4.67 million tons on a global scale during 2015–2016, roughly accounting for 7.4% of the total global inland fisheries production. In Europe, common carp contributed 1.8% (0.17 Mt) of the total inland fisheries production (9.42 Mt) during 2015–2016. It is a major farmed species in European freshwater aquaculture with production localized in central and eastern European countries. The Russian Federation (0.06 Mt) followed by Poland (0.02 Mt), Czech Republic (0.02 Mt), Hungary (0.01 Mt) and Ukraine (0.01 Mt) represents about 70% of carp production in Europe during 2016. In fact, the land‐locked central European countries rely heavily on common carp aquaculture in fishponds. The average productivity of carp culture systems in central European countries ranges between 0.3 and 1 ton ha−1. The European common carp production, in terms of volume, reached its peak (0.18 Mt) during 2009–2010 and has been declining since. Carp farming is often criticized as an anthropogenic driver of eutrophication of inland freshwater bodies - especially in the Central Eastern European Region (CEER). There has been some debate between environmentalists and carp farmers concerning eutrophication of water bodies, manifested into lobbying at ministry levels surrounding fishpond legislations. European carp aquaculture in fish ponds most likely has the least nutrient burden to the environment than most food production sectors in the European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...
.
As food and sport
The annual tonnage of common carp produced in China alone, not to mention the other cyprinids, exceeds the weight of all other fish, such as trout and salmon, produced by aquaculture worldwide. Roughly three million tonnes are produced annually, accounting for 14% of all farmed freshwater fish in 2002. China is by far the largest commercial producer, accounting for about 70% of carp production.[ Carp is eaten in many parts of the world both when caught from the wild and raised in aquaculture.
In ]Central Europe
Central Europe is an area of Europe between Western Europe and Eastern Europe, based on a common historical, social and cultural identity. The Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) between Catholicism and Protestantism significantly shaped the a ...
, it is a traditional part of a Christmas Eve dinner. Hungarian fisherman's soup, a specially prepared fish soup of carp alone or mixed with other freshwater fish, is part of the traditional meal for Christmas Eve in Hungary along with stuffed cabbage and poppy seed roll and walnut roll. A traditional Czech Christmas Eve dinner is a thick soup of carp's head and offal, fried carp meat (sometimes the meat is skinned and baked instead) with potato salad
Potato salad is a salad dish made from boiled potatoes, usually containing a dressing and a variety of other ingredients such as boiled eggs and raw vegetables.
In the United States, it is generally considered a side dish and usually accompanie ...
or boiled carp in black sauce. A Slovak Christmas Eve dinner is quite similar, with soup varying according to the region and fried carp as the main dish. Also in Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
, parts of Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
, and Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...
, a fried carp is one of the traditional dishes on Christmas Eve.
In Western Europe
Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's countries and territories vary depending on context.
The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the ancient Mediterranean ...
, the carp is cultivated more commonly as a sport fish, although there is a small market for it as a food fish. Carp are mixed with other common fish to make gefilte fish
Gefilte fish (; from yi, געפֿילטע פֿיש, lit. "stuffed fish") is a dish made from a poached mixture of ground deboned fish, such as carp, whitefish, or pike. It is traditionally served as an appetizer by Ashkenazi Jewish househo ...
, popular in Jewish cuisine
Jewish cuisine refers to the worldwide cooking traditions of the Jewish people. During its evolution over the course of many centuries, it has been shaped by Jewish dietary laws (''kashrut''), Jewish festivals and holidays, and traditions ce ...
. Common carp are extremely popular with angler
Angler may refer to:
* A fisherman who uses the fishing technique of angling
* ''Angler'' (video game)
* The angler, ''Lophius piscatorius'', a monkfish
* More generally, any anglerfish in the order Lophiiformes
* '' Angler: The Cheney Vice Pres ...
s in many parts of Europe, and their popularity as quarry is slowly increasing among anglers in the United States (though they are still generally considered pests and destroyed in most areas of the U.S.), and southern Canada. Carp are also popular with spear, bow, and fly fishermen.
In the United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
, carp is mostly ignored as a food fish. Almost all U.S. shoppers bypass carp, due to a preference for filleted fish as opposed to cooking whole. Carp have smaller intramuscular bones called y-bones, which makes them a whole fish species for cooking.
The Romans farmed carp and this pond culture continued through the monasteries of Europe and to this day. In China, Korea, and Japan, carp farming took place as early as the Yayoi period
The started at the beginning of the Neolithic in Japan, continued through the Bronze Age, and towards its end crossed into the Iron Age.
Since the 1980s, scholars have argued that a period previously classified as a transition from the Jōmon ...
(c. 300 BC – AD 300).[Daily Yomiuri newspaper, September 19, 2008]
See also
* List of freshwater aquarium fish species
*Rough fish Rough fish (or the slang trash fish or dirt fish) is a term used by some United States state agencies and anglers to describe fish that are less desirable to sport anglers within a defined region. The term usually refers to larger game fish specie ...
* Benson, a notable common carp
* Mud carp
References
External links
Cyprinus carpio
Arkive
*
Carp herpesvirus - Managing Water Ecosystems - CSIRO
{{Authority control
Cyprinus
Carp
Commercial fish
Cyprinid fish of Asia
Cyprinid fish of Europe
Fish described in 1758
Fish of Korea
Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus
Freshwater fish of North America