126 Fish and Game Warden. [Bull. No. 1. 



fish parasites that are more or less common in many other 

 fishes, especially those varieties of parasitic worms that are 

 found imbedded in the flesh of many fresh-water fishes. 



For table use the fish should not be taken from polluted or 

 stagnant water, as is frequently done, but should be taken 

 from clean water, not necessarily clear water. The fish should 

 not be allowed to die, either in the water or out of the water, 

 but should be killed, thoroughly bled, and then dressed. The 

 skin, at least the outside skin that holds the scales, should be 

 removed and the fin bones cut out. Some cooks advise that 

 the fish be soaked for one or two hours in cool salt water be- 

 fore it is prepared for the table. This we do not find necessary 

 when the fish is taken from clean water, though it may not do 

 any particular harm. However, we do not think any fresh fish 

 is improved by soaking it in water. 



The carp are very prolific, good-sized specimens spawning 

 from one to three and a half million eggs each season. The 

 carp is essentially a vegetarian, and eats many aquatic plants 

 such as the so-called "mosses,"* and other aquatic plants found 

 growing in ponds and sluggish streams. The lower forms of 

 life that the carp devours are made up, for the most part, of 

 small crustaceans, small mollusks, and various kinds of small 

 larvse, such as the minute forms of animals and plants found 

 on the bottom of ponds and streams, and adhering to various 

 objects in the water. 



We have opened the stomachs of more than a thousand speci- 

 mens of carp, and never found any of the eggs of other fish in 

 the food material of the carp. In a few instances a small 

 number of their own eggs were found in the food masses of 

 the stomachs. It is not strange that the fish should suck up 

 some of its own eggs while feeding among the aquatic plants 

 that grow upon its own spawning grounds. The carp usually 

 scatters its eggs among aquatic plants in rather a promiscuous 

 way, and does not watch over or care for them. Thus far we 

 have found no evidence that it eats the spawn of other fishes. 



However, we know of no reason why the carp might not eat 

 the eggs of other fish if it found them unprotected. Such a 

 fish as a bass can easily put a carp to flight. A lot of carp in 

 a bunch might drive a bass from its nest, if they persisted in 

 their attack, and devour the eggs. We have been told many 

 times that the carp destroy the spawn of bass and other fish. 

 We have taken many of them from streams and ponds where 



* The term "moss," as used by many people, refers to a number of 

 water plants, such as the various kinds of Char a or stoneworts, the liver- 

 worts, in fact nearly all the green algae, including almost any plant that 

 grows in the water and has slender leaves and branches. The true mosses, 

 for the most part, grow in moist places on earth, rocks, logs, the sides of 

 trees or in other such favorable places. There are comparatively few 

 aquatic forms, the best-known being fontanalis species; these plants, so 

 far as we know, are rare in Kansas. 



