CHAPTER VIII. 



THE CARP. 



THE spined (or acanthopterygian) order of fishes contained by British 

 water being finished with the stickleback, we now, following Cuvier's 

 classification, come to the malacopterygian, or soft-finned fishes. The 

 carp is properly a M. dbdominale, or a fish with soft belly fins, and 

 its chief characteristics are large scales, soft lips, weak jaws, powerful 

 palatal teeth ; indeed, these qualities attend all the Cyprinidae family, 

 of which the common carp (Cyprinus carpio) is chief. There also are 

 three other species of carp, namely the gold (C. auratus), the gibel 

 (C. ffibelio), and the crucian (G. carasius). 



Its general appearance from a clear lake and when in good condition 

 is bronze golden in colour and brilliant eyed. It is not a swift, but 

 a strong agile fish, fitted rather for lakes and soft running streams 

 than for the swift waters in which trout and such fish live and thrive. 



The gullet of the fish (as in nearly all the Cyprinidae family) possesses 

 large teeth, with which the fish ruminates. These are saw -like, and 

 work upon each other with considerable force. 



The barbs of the Cyprinus carpio distinguish it from its other 

 relations C. gibelio and C. auratus having none and because these 

 feelers, or barbs, as in the case of gudgeon, cod, and barbel, perform, 

 to a great extent, the office of perception, the palate and tongue seem 

 to be far from sensitive. The brain of the carp is particularly large, 

 indeed, larger in proportion than any other fresh-water fish, and seems 

 to be a measure of its mental capacity. Professor Owen estimates the 

 size of fishes' brains generally at an average of 1 in 3000, but that of this 

 fish is as 1 in 500 ; and, according to Blumenbach, exactly the same in 

 proportion as that of the elephant. Small wonder, therefore, that 

 Buff on, bearing in mind its craft and subtlety, terms it the " river fox." 



