7 - The Common Carp and Chinese Carps

Abstract

This chapter provides a description on the common carp and chinese carps. Fishes described in this chapter include the common carp (Cyprinus carpio), and a group of five cyprinids, collectively termed Chinese carps—namely, silver carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix), bighead carp (Aristichthys nobilis), grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella), black carp (Mylopharyngodon piceus), and mud carp (Cirrhina molitorella). The common carp probably originated in Asia Minor and the area of the Caspian Sea at the end of the Pleistocene era. The total catch of common and Chinese carps in 1990 was c. 4.5 million metric tons, over 80% coming from China. The common carp has been introduced very widely, in most cases for aquaculture, but sometimes for sport, supplying pituitary glands, or as ornamental fish. It was for long considered that the Chinese carps spawned only in their native Chinese river systems. Common carp are normally bisexual, though hermaphrodite individuals occur occasionally and may even be used for self-fertilization. Frequency distributions of length of common carp are asymmetrical and skewed to the right, at stages after yolk sac absorption has been completed. Mass selection involves a choice of individuals according to their phenotypes—the largest when selecting for fast growth, or the survivors after a disease when selecting for disease tolerance. From its origin in central Eurasia, carp spread naturally east and west, and was distributed by man the world over, wherever conditions, particularly temperature, permitted its growth and reproduction.