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Cyprinus carpio

(Wild Common Carp)

Interesting Facts

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Common Names

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Common Names in English:

Common Carp, Koi, Wild Common Carp

Description

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Family Cyprinidae

Distribution: North America (northern Canada to southern Mexico), Africa, and Eurasia . Pharynx with 1-3 rows of teeth, each row with a maximum of 8 teeth. Usually thin lips , plicae or papillae absent; mouth sometimes suckerlike (Garra and Labeo). With or without barbels . Premaxilla usually borders the upper jaw making the maxilla entirely or almost entirely excluded from the gape. Usually protrusible upper jaw. Dorsal fin with spinelike rays in some. Primitive number of chromosomes 2n=50, some with 48; polyploidy exists. Maximum length at least 2.5 m to probably 3 m in Catlocarpio siamensis; many species less than 5 cm. Mainly non-guarders, but in some species males build nests and/or protect the eggs .The family Cyprinidae belongs to the Class Actinopterygii (ray-finned fishes ) and the Order Cypriniformes. It contains 210 genera and 2010 species. It may be found in Brackish , and Freshwater environments and is primarily Primary freshwater. Many members of this family are used in the aquarium trade. Reproductively, most members of this family are nonguarders. The main mode of swimming of adult fish in this family is subcarangiform. Compared with other fish, the activity level of this family tends to be normal. Members of this family have been dated back to the Eocene epoch of the Tertiary period. This family may be found from 70° n to 34° s and 150° w to 170° e. Etymology of this family name : Greek, kyprinos = goldfish .

Habitat

Typically found in water with a depth of -931 to 0 meters (-3,054 to 0 feet).[1]

Biome: Terrestrial

Ecology: Occur at a temperature range of 3–35°C. Hardy and tolerant of a wide variety of conditions but generally favours large water bodies with slow flowing or standing water and soft bottom sediments. Common carp thrive in large turbid rivers . They are omnivorous , feeding mainly on aquatic insects, crustaceans, annelids , molluscs , plant seeds, aquatic plants and algae. Food is mainly obtained by grubbing in sediments (Scott and Crossman 1973). Spawns in spring and summer, laying sticky eggs in shallow vegetation (Skelton 1993). A female 47 cm in length produces about 300,000 eggs (Hart 1973). Adults uproot and destroy submerged aquatic vegetation and therefore may be detrimental to native fish populations (Scott and Crossman 1973). It has invaded dams and some parts of rivers where it has replaced indigenous tilapias as the dominant species (Welcomme 1988) (see Seegers et al. unpublished). Max . size: 120 cm SL (after Froese and Pauly 2003).[2]


List of Habitats :5.1Wetlands (inland) - Permanent Rivers/Streams/Creeks (includes waterfalls ) 5.5Wetlands (inland) - Permanent Freshwater Lakes (over 8ha) 5.7Wetlands (inland) - Permanent Freshwater Marshes/Pools (under 8ha) 5.13Wetlands (inland) - Permanent Inland Deltas

Taxonomy

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Notes

Name Status: Accepted Name . Latest taxonomic scrutiny: Data last modified by FishBase 11-Apr-2003.

Similar Species

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Members of the genus Cyprinus

There are approximately 351 species in this genus. Here are just 100 of them:

C. carpio subsp. carpio · C. abbreviatus · C. abramioides · C. abramorutilus · C. acra · C. carpio subsp. carpio · C. acutidorsalis · C. agone · Alburnus alburnus · C. alburnus · C. carpio subsp. carpio · C. americanus · C. angra · C. carpio subsp. carpio · C. anjana · C. aphya · C. apiatus · C. arabicus · C. argenteus · C. ariza · C. asper · C. aspius · C. atpar · C. atromaculatus · C. atronasus · C. auratus · C. bacaila · C. balibhola · C. balitora · C. ballerus · C. bangana · C. bangon · C. barba · C. barbatus · C. barbus · C. barila · C. barna · C. bata · C. benacensis · C. bendelisis · C. bendilisis · C. bimaculatus · C. binny · C. bipunctatus · C. bjoerkna · C. blicca · C. boga · C. bola · C. borelio · C. brama · C. buggenhagii · C. bukrangi · C. bulatmai · C. bullaris · C. bynni · C. cachius · C. calbasu · C. canius · Leuciscus cephalus · C. capoeta · C. carassioides · C. carassius · C. carinatus · C. carpio (Wild Common Carp) · C. carpio + carassius · C. carpio anatolicus · C. carpio aralensis · C. carpio brevicirri · C. carpio carpio (Wild Common Carp) · C. carpio caspicus · C. carpio chilia · C. carpio communis · C. carpio elongatus · C. carpio fluviatilis · C. carpio haematopterus (Amur Wild Carp) · C. carpio intha · C. carpio lacustris · C. carpio longicirri · C. carpio macrolepiodotus · C. carpio megalopththalmus · C. carpio monstrosus · C. carpio oblongus · C. carpio rubrofuscus · C. carpio specularis · C. carpio viridiviolaceus · C. carpo · C. castostomus · C. catla · C. catostomus · C. caucus · C. caurinus · C. centralus · C. cephalus · C. chagunio · C. chalcoides · C. chapalio · C. chedra · C. chedrio · C. chilia · C. chinensis

More Info

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Further Reading

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Notes

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Contributors

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal November 12, 2007:

Identifiers

Footnotes

  1. Mean = 192.540 meters (631.693 feet), Standard Deviation = 372.770 based on 5,295 observations. Ocean depth information for each observation from British Oceanographic Data Centre. [back]
  2. World Conservation Monitoring Centre 1996. In IUCN 2008. 2008 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCNRedList.org. Downloaded July 18, 2008. [back]
Last Revised: 2009-06-17