Types of King Carp
Welcome to this section on types of king Carp. Please click on the desired links below:-
Carp - an Overview Common Carp Mirror Carp Leather Carp Linear Carp Grass Carp Koi Carp Crucian Carp
CARP, common name for certain fish belonging to the minnow family. The family is sometimes also called the carp family, especially in Britain. The common carp apparently originated in China, where many exotic varieties were bred. It was introduced into Europe in the 12th century and into the United States in the 1870s, and it now exists in fresh water worldwide, except for South America, Australia, and the island of Madagascar.
Carp breeding is the oldest form of fish culture, and has been practiced for at least 2400 years in China, while in Europe the Romans transferred Carp from the Danube to Italy during the 1st to 4th centuries AD. After the collapse of the Roman Empire, and with the advent of Christianity; Carp introductions took place all across Europe.
Carp are prolific and breed rapidly, and they are bred and fished commercially in Asia, Europe, southern Africa, and, on a smaller scale, the United States. As bottom feeders they stir up mud and uproot vegetation, often driving out other fish; however, they can survive in stagnant or polluted waters that most other fish cannot inhabit.
Common Carp (Cyprinous carpio):
The Common Carp was originally brought to Europe from Asia by the Romans. It is not known when it was first introduced into Britain,but it was stocked as a food fish in monastery ponds in the 13th Century. Today Common Carp can be found in most fishing ponds. They are usually found in places that have shallow water (gravel pits???), warm environment (Britain???) such as ponds, lakes and slow moving rivers. In the wild these carp will reach a weight of about 9kg and a length of up to 60cm. Domestic specimens (one's that we usually fish for) can reach up to 72lb in Romania, but in this country they grow to about 40lb-45lb.
The mirror carp are a variation of the Common Carp, these fish are distinguished by the exceptionally large scales along the flank of these fish. The amount of scales, and the pattern of these large scales, vary massively. This is one of the factors that make mirror carp so desirable because not all of them have the same scale patterns. These fish were bread by the monks because they were easier to prepare i.e. not so many scales!!! In Romania these fish grow to around 80lb's+, but in this country the current record stands at 56lb 6oz, "Mary" is resident to the ultra hard lake "Wrasbury".
This type of Carp is another variety of the common carp, and is very similar to mirror carp. These fish have a set of large scales that run down the center of the Carps body. Most of the time these linear Carp do not feature any other scales.
This is another variety of the Common Carp, this variety is not as common as the above two, This species is quite easily recognised as it has no scales at all.
Grass Carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella):
This variety of Carp is less common compared to all of the above. This fish is often used to control for aquatic vegetation (weed), and has been introduced in many parts of the world. This fish is never found in large numbers in any lake, because they would eat every thing in the lake.
Koi-Carp (Cyprinous carpio haematopterus):
(This picture shows a group of koi-carp terrorising a poor duck, out side a Japanese Restaurant, where koi are considered extremely valuable.)
Koi-Carp very in colouration hugely, their are many breeds of koi-carp and some are very highly prized. The most commonly found type of koi-carp caught in british fishing lakes is usually the "Ghost Carp", called this because they have a white body. Just CLICK HERE to get an idea of how many types of koi-carp there are.
