THE FOOD AND GAME FISHES OF NEW YORK. 



291 



hibernates in winter except in warm latitudes, takes no food and does not grow ; its 

 increase in size in temperate latitudes occurs only from May to August. 



The spawning season begins in May and continues in some localities till August. 

 A Carp weighing 4 to 5 pounds, according to Mr. Hessel, yields from 400,000 to 

 500,000 eggs ; the Scale Carp contains rather more than the other varieties. During 

 the spawning the fish frequently rise to the surface, the female accompanied by two 

 or three males. The female drops the eggs at intervals during a period of some 

 days or weeks in shallow water on aquatic plants. The eggs adhere in lumps to 

 plants, twigs and stones. The hatching period varies from 12 to 16 days. 



According to Hessel the average weight of a Carp at 3 years is from 3 to 35^ 

 pounds; with abundance of food it will increase more rapidly in weight. The Carp 

 continues to add to its circumference till its thirty-fifth year, and in the southern 

 parts of Europe Mr. Hessel has seen individuals weighing 40 pounds and measuring 



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CARP. 



3J^ feet in length and 2l^ feet in circumference. A carp weighing 67 pounds and 

 with scales 2j4 inches in diameter was killed in the Danube in 1853. There is a 

 record of a giant specimen of 90 pounds from Lake Zug, iil Switzerland. Examples 

 weighing 24 pounds have been caught recently in the Potomac River at Washington, 

 D. C. 



The Carp lives principally on vegetable food, preferably the seeds of water plants 

 such as the water lilies, wild rice and water oats. It will eat lettuce, cabbage 

 soaked barley, wheat, rice, corn, insects and their larvce, worms and meats of various 

 kinds. It can readily be caught with dough, grains of barley or wheat, worms, 

 maggots, wasp larva; and sometimes with pieces of beef or fish. 



During the summer of 1897 two female Leather Carp died in captivity as a result, 

 of retention of the eggs. 



Large individuals are found in Prospect Park Lake, Brooklyn, where the species 

 was introduced. The food of the fish in captivity includes hard clams, earthworms, 



