THE CARP AND THE STICKLEBACK 



The second fact is concerned with the manner of this 

 growth, its swift beginning and its ultimate slowing 

 down. This is easily observed when the carp are raised 

 in ponds, whose owners, picking out the best specimens, 

 select them as breeders. In many of them it is not 

 uncommon to see females kept for breeding whose age 

 amounts to as much as ten, twelve, or even fifteen years. 

 Their size and weight come somewhere near that of the 

 " monster " caught in the old pond; they weigh from 

 twenty-four to thirty pounds, and measure from twenty- 

 five to thirty-two inches in length. Thereafter, the 

 stage of old age sets in. Kept for the sake of their eggs, 

 which are both larger and more numerous, almost 

 reaching the million figure in the case of the finest 

 specimens, the carp then become senile and gradually 

 lose their fecundating power. But when circumstances 

 are propitious they may still go on living. They seem 

 to become decrepit somewhere between the fifteenth and 

 twentieth years. Upon land, a creature so stricken 

 would soon die. But in the water, which supports 

 and maintains it, it may last longer, longer even 

 than it had lived before. This period of decrepitude, 

 which is necessarily short in the case of land animals, 

 is prolonged in the water animals, and may even be 

 accompanied by a continuance of growth, although at a 

 slower rate, and end by producing creatures which 

 surprise us, not only by their general appearance, but 

 by their possibly great age and the hugeness of their 

 dimensions. 



This longevity leads to new consequences. Growth, 

 not being concerned with the development of the body 

 alone, is further concerned with reproduction. Every 

 spring, the carp begin to spawn. The females in ponds 

 devoted to carp breeding begin in their fourth year, and 

 afterwards, each spring, they spawn again, only more 

 abundantly each successive year until the beginning of 

 the period of decline and old age. In the course of its 

 existence, the creature reproduces itself several times 

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