322 Rooscfclt Wild Life .linials 



Habitat. The Carp has a wide raii,s,^e nf conditions under which it lives. It 

 can endure extremes of temperature (Cole, '05, p. 563; Gill, 05, p. 304) and can 

 live out of water for a considerable time. Its favorite feeding habitat appears to 

 be shallow, moderately warm water where there is considerable vegetation and 

 muddy bottom, with nearby deep places for retreat from danger or for winter 

 quarters (Tracy, '10, p. 69; Forbes and Richardson, '09, p. 106; Cole, '05, p. 552). 

 In feeding, these fish often keep the water turliid ; and a continued muddiness of 

 some shoal can only be accounted for Ijy the presence of Carp rooting among 

 aquatic plants. Cole ('05, p. 549) found extensive favorable situations for Carp 

 in the shallow western portion of the Lake Erie, and notes their abundance there 

 among rushes (I.e., p. 551). River mouths choked with vegetation (I.e., p. 550) 

 form good habitats for Carp. Contaminated water of streams does not appear to 

 afifect it (Forbes and Richardson, '09, p. 106). Hankinson finds it abundant, 

 thriving, and reaching large size in the Huron River below Ann Arbor, where the 

 water is contaminated by sewage and contains liquid wastes from paper mills. 

 Carp will also enter brackish waters ( Meek, '16, p. 178; Cole. "05. p. 553). Oneida 

 Lake fishermen, however, told Mr. Dence that Carp star mostly in the clearer 

 water, and are taken chiefly where the depth is six to tiL;lit feet ; and that they 

 enter the shallow, fouler waters of the lake only at breeding time. Carp become 

 torpid and cease feeding in winter and have a true hibernation, according to Cole 

 ('05, p. 561) and Seeley ("86, p. 97). Smiley ('83, p. 244) says they hibernate 

 in ponds, but in lakes where deep water is available they move into this for the 

 winter (Cole, '05, p. 556). Leach ('19, p.17) describes their method of hiberna- 

 tion. He says : "At the approach of winter weather the Carp, in groups of 50 to 

 100. form cavities in the mud in the deeper portions of the pond and arrange them- 

 selves in concentric circles in these hollows, where they remain until spring, their 

 heads huddled together, the posterior portion of the bodies raised and held 

 immovable and the gills scarcely lifted in breathing. Though the fish take prac- 

 tically no food during the period of hibernation — extending roughly, from Octolier 

 to the end of March — they do not lose in weight." 



We saw very few Carp in Oneida Lake in 1915-16, when we did most of our 

 continuous field work and studied the shallows extensively, but their concentration 

 on certain shallows at breeding time made their presence in the lake evident. It 

 is said that they remain mostly in water more than forty feet in depth in the lake, 

 but undoubtedly they come to the shallows to feed. 



Food and Feeding. Carp feed on a great variety of food and are considered 

 to be omnivorous by Forbes and Richard.son ('09, p. 106). These authors note 

 that they take principally vegetable matter, but also insect larvae, crustaceans, mol- 

 lusks and other small aquatic animals; and they often while feeding (I.e.) pull up 

 roots of tender aquatic plants. Cole ('05, p. 564) concludes that the species is 

 omnivorous and that there is no food substance which it will not eat. but he does 

 not consider it predacious. He tells of their feeding like pigs, rooting and splash- 

 ing in shallow water (p. 565). Sometimes they feed from water plants at the 

 surface (I.e.), and when thus feeding they make a sucking sound. Tracy ('10. 

 p. 70) also notes such surface feeding. Carp appear to take food at all times of 

 the day ("Cole. '05. p. 573) : but they eat little if at all in tlie winter (Forbes and 



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