ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



cation is impossible, however desirable such a 

 project might be. Like that uncontrollable 

 pest, the English sparrow, the}' have come to 

 stay. However, the carp is not, like the spar- 

 row, an unmitigated nuisance. It is true that 

 he sometimes eats the eggs and destroys the 

 breeding places of more desirable fishes and 

 disturbs the waters continually, but at the same 

 time the carnivorous fishes take a heavy toll 

 of young carp for food. But what is of much 

 greater importance, the carp is gradually find- 

 ing a market, especially in the larger cities, 

 that bids fair to have a place in the much-dis- 

 cussed reduction of the high cost of living. 



Just how important this is becoming may 

 best be judged by recent published reports. 

 Thus carp are stated to be the most valuable 

 commercial fish of tlie Illinois River, which 

 yields a total annual product of twenty-four 

 million pounds of fish. One hundred and fifty 

 tons of carp are reported to have been taken 

 thus far this season in the Kalamazoo River, 

 Michigan. Sandusky, Ohio, is a great center 

 for the carp industry, and supplies especially 

 the large eastern markets of New York and 

 Philadelphia. 



A new type of fishing industry has grown up 

 in connection with the shipment of live carp 

 from Sandusky, especialh' to the eastern mar- 

 kets. Although this business is now only about 

 three years old, it is estimated that from 

 500,000 to 1,000,000 pounds of live carp are 

 now shi])ped annually from Sandusky, in which 

 place this work has become one of the most 

 important lines of the fish industry. The meth- 

 ods employed are outlined in the Fishing Ga- 

 zette (January 3, 191 1). 



Shipping the living fish in quantity to a dis- 

 tance of 600 miles appeared at first to be a 

 difficult problem, and the first attempt, made 

 some three years ago, to send a carload of 

 6,000 pounds met with so little success that 

 only 100 pounds remained alive when the car 

 reached its destination. Specially built cars, 

 provided with tanks in which the water can be 

 aerated with an air ]iump and in which the 

 temperature can be regulated, have at last 

 solved the problem so satisfactorily that now 

 seldom more than 100 pounds are lost in a car- 

 load of 6,000 to 10,000 pounds. Several cars 

 are loaded each week at Sandusky and are 

 rushed through by fast express. 



The extensive marshes and shallow water 

 areas, together with the slow flowing streams 

 about Sanduskv Bay, are the chief sources of 

 these carp. When caught, the fishes are held 

 in pounds and large live cars until they can 



be shipped, and shipments are made all the 

 year round except when the ice prevents the 

 removal of the carp from the pens. As the 

 carp are worth only four and one-half to six 

 cents per pound at Sandusky and bring fifteen 

 to twenty cents per pound alive in the eastern 

 markets, there is still considerable room for 

 profit after transportation charges are deduct- 

 ed. When the carp are shipped dead they bring 

 only five to eight cents per pound on the New 

 York markets, so there is left an extra margin 

 of about ten cents per pound to pay for the 

 greater expense of handling them alive. Fur- 

 thermore, there can be no doubt that they are 

 far more edible when shipped alive, as they are 

 given time in the pens and during transit to 

 get rid of the mud from the intestines, which 

 causes the flesh to be so permeated with its 

 ill flavors when carp are allowed to die imme- 

 diately after they are caught. 



Lender favorable conditions carp reach a 

 marketable size in one year, sometimes attain- 

 ing the length of one foot in nine or ten months. 

 A three-year-old has been known to weigh 

 thirty pounds, though an average weight at this 

 age is ]irobably only about three or four 

 pounds. According to Dr. T. H. Bean (Fishes 

 of New York) the carp increases in size up 

 to the thirty-fifth year and has been known to 

 reach a weight of ninety pounds. The carp 

 will spawn when one year old and, as a four 

 or five-pound female will produce 400,000 to 

 •500,000 eggs, the rapid increase of the species 

 in favorable conditions is easily understood. 



While carp will eat almost anything, they live 

 chiefly on vegetable food and may be fed on the 

 coarsest diet, such as cabbage, potatoes, corn, 

 etc. Apparently the rate of growth is depend- 

 ent chiefly on the amount of food they can con- 

 sume and there seems to be no limit to their ap- 

 petites. While they are found to some extent in 

 clear streams and rivers, the}' seem to thrive 

 best in the sluggish back waters and bayous of 

 slow flowing streams, and in marshes that are 

 often almost uninhabitable by any other food 

 fish. Thus it happens that the chief centers of 

 the carp industry are found in such places as 

 the Illinois River and the extensive marshes of 

 northern Indiana. Ohio and southern Michigan. 

 If they would only limit their distribution to 

 such localities no one would have the least cause 

 for complaint. 



Because of the habits of tlie carp the flesh is 

 usually somewhat ill-flavored and muddy to the 

 taste, unless proper care has lieen taken to rid 

 it of this objectionable quality. If the freshly 

 caught fish is thoroughly bled and cleaned at 



