330 Roosevelt ll'ild Life .liuials 



Hunt ('i2, pp. 190-191) gives instances where Carp appear to have reduced 

 the number of mussels, since the mussels were abundant in certain regions prior 

 to the advent of the Carp, and they were found in quantities in the enterons of 

 the fish. 



Carp are apparently important in some localities as eradicators of fluke disease 

 in sheep. Stiles ('02, p. 220) notes the considerable disappearance of this disease 

 in sheep in the Columbia River bottoms after the introduction of the Carp. Cole 

 ('05, p. 609) quotes Dr. B. W. Evermann as saying that Carp eat the snails 

 (Liiiiiiaca) that harbor stages in the life history of the flukes, referring to the 

 habit of the fish of rooting about in the grass areas of bottom land during annual 

 overflows. 



Carp may also be of importance as mosquito destroyers, for Gill ('05, p. 206) 

 states that the larvae of mosquitoes are especially acceptable to the young. Cole 

 ('05, p. 608) also thinks it quite probable that Carp may be important mosquito 

 destroyers nofrvvithstanding the fact that the pest has not actually been found 

 abundantly in the intestinal contents of this fish. This fact he considers may have 

 been due merely to the small size of the larvae, for since Carp are known to feed 

 extensively at times on larvae of other insects, he is led to suspect that mosquito 

 larvae would be taken as well. 



Carp have also been used as fertilizer. Forbes and Richardson ('09, p. 108) 

 state that owing to the low price which the fish brings in the spring, often not 

 more than a third of a cent a pound, many are used in the Great Lakes region for 

 this purpose. Cobb ('04, p. 229), in writing of Cayuga Lake, mentions the waste 

 of Carp, saying that many thousands of pounds of Carp (and Dogfish) are thrown 

 upon the shores to rot or to be used as fertilizer. Hankinson also recalls the 

 considerable waste of Carp about Cayuga Lake where, about the year 1900, he 

 has seen hundreds of them left on the shore by net fishermen. One winter he 

 secured some of these discarded fish, frozen, but in fresh condition, cooked them 

 and found them very palatable. 



On the whole the Carp would seem to be a highly valuable fish in this country. 

 It probably needs only a more extensive, intelligent, and more economical utiliza- 

 tion. Accordingly, where superabundant and interfering with better native fish, 

 its capture for food purposes should be encouraged. Cole ('05, p. 636), in con- 

 sidering the idea of placing bounties on the fish, says : "The best bounty that can 

 be offered is an increasing market — a growing demand that will make fishing for 

 Carp a profitable business." It seems probable that in the future Carp will become 

 more and more important, following the growing scarcity and increased prices of 

 many of our native food fish. Prejudices, however, based on wrong information 

 concerning the fish should be removed, and instructions as to proper ways of 

 preparing it for the table should be more generally disseminated. 



By way of summary of the economic importance of the Carp in this country, 

 the following quotation from Smith ('10. p. 1405) is given: "Of all the exotic 

 fishes, none is so well known, so widely distributed, so abundant, and so valuable 

 as the carp, which was introduced from Germany upward of thirty years ago. 

 This fish has excited a great deal of criticism, mostly unfriendly, and it is today 

 regarded with disfavor by many people, chiefly anglers, because of real or supposed 



