232 FAUNA OF SHROPSHIRE. 



rakers being fewer and stouter than in the Allis Shad, 

 and the spots on the sides more numerous. 



CARP. These fish grow, it is said, to i5lbs. in weight. 



Cyprinus carpio. They are prolific and long lived, but 



are of slow growth. Carp are hard to 

 kill, and will live a long-time out of water, bearing 

 transport for a great distance, if carefully packed in wet 

 moss. They are not very often taken by anglers ; and, 

 in fact, so far as their edible qualities are concerned, 

 the common English Carp unlike the cultivated 

 varieties of Germany and America are scarcely worth 

 fishing for. The more common of the familiar "gold 

 fish" are members of the Carp family, brought to 

 this country from China and Japan. What are called 

 "gold" and "silver" fish are varieties of Carp; and 

 latterly there have been introduced into some English 

 lakes a German orange-coloured fish that runs to 

 about 2lbs. or 3lbs. in weight. These are probably 

 the fish that at one time had a temporary home in the 

 " Dingle " pool, in the Quarry, at Shrewsbury, but 

 although they grew large, they did not breed there. 

 There also exists a golden Tench that is very beautifully 

 coloured. It is understood that the golden Tench and 

 golden Carp are a sort of albino variety of the common 

 Tench and Carp. A pool near Hadnall is stated to con- 

 tain "gold-fish," which reproduce their species there. 



GOLD FISH, (see Carp.) 



CRUCIAN CARP. Eyton says that this fish used to occur in 



C. carassius. a pit near Cotwall, into which it was introduced 



from Warwickshire. It is not indigenous but 



was originally introduced from Germany, and has since become 



naturalized in the Thames and certain other waters. 



