The Prussian carp, silver Prussian carp or Gibel carp (''Carassius gibelio''), is a member of the family

Cyprinidae Cyprinidae is a family of freshwater fish commonly called the carp or minnow family. It includes the carps, the true minnows, and relatives like the barbs and barbels. Cyprinidae is the largest and most diverse fish family and the largest ve ...

, which includes many other fish, such as the

common carp The Eurasian carp or European carp (''Cyprinus carpio''), widely known as the common carp, is a widespread freshwater fish of eutrophic waters in lakes and large rivers in Europe and Asia.Fishbase''Cyprinus carpio'' Linnaeus, 1758/ref>Arkive 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 ...

, and the smaller

minnow Minnow is the common name for a number of species of small freshwater fish, belonging to several genera of the families Cyprinidae and Leuciscidae. They are also known in Ireland as pinkeens. Smaller fish in the subfamily Leusciscidae are c ...

s. It is a medium-sized cyprinid, and does not exceed a weight of and a length of . They are usually silver, although other color variations exist. They are omnivorous and feed on plankton, invertebrates, plant material and detritus. Originally from

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part ...

, they have been introduced to and are now inhabiting lakes, ponds, and slow-moving rivers throughout

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and th ...

, and

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...

. Prussian carps are highly invasive fish species in areas outside its native range. They reproduce and spread rapidly. In 2020, scientists demonstrated that a small proportion of fertilized Prussian 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 Prussian carps. If proven under natural circumstances, endozoochorous dispersal of invasive fish could be a strong conservation concern for freshwater biodiversity. Prussian carp are capable of gynogenesis, meaning sperm is required to fertilize their eggs, but the male gamete does not contribute any DNA to the embryo. Females lay eggs and then "steal" sperm from related species.

Description

The Prussian carp is a deep-bodied, robust fish which resembles the

crucian carp The crucian carp (''Carassius carassius'') is a medium-sized member of the common carp family Cyprinidae. It occurs widely in northern European regions. Its name derives from the Low German ''karusse'' or ''karutze'', possibly from Medieval La ...

(''Carassius carassius'') and grows to about in length. Its

scales Scale or scales may refer to: Mathematics * Scale (descriptive set theory), an object defined on a set of points * Scale (ratio), the ratio of a linear dimension of a model to the corresponding dimension of the original * Scale factor, a number w ...

are larger than those of the crucian carp, and it typically has 27 to 32 scales along the

lateral line The lateral line, also called the lateral line organ (LLO), is a system of sensory organs found in fish, used to detect movement, vibration, and pressure gradients in the surrounding water. The sensory ability is achieved via modified epithelial ...

, whereas the crucian carp usually has between 31 and 35. The species is silvery, sometimes with a faint golden tinge, while the crucian carp has a burnished gold appearance. The Prussian carp's tail is more deeply forked than that of the crucian carp.

References

External link

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q725983 Prussian carp Prussian carp Freshwater fish of Europe Freshwater fish of Asia Prussian carp