118 FEESH-WATEK AQUAEIA. 



than 25ft. in length, and 2ft. in girth. The body is broad 

 and deep, but not ungraceful ; the colour is olive-brown, 

 tinged with gold; the mouth is small and toothless, and has 

 two barbels on each side ; the lips are fleshy. The head is 

 of a darker shade than the body, and the under-part of the 

 body is of a yellowish-white; the fins are dark brown; there 

 is one long dorsal Jin. The tail is large and deeply forked; 

 the scales are also large, and covered with a kind of mucus. 



The Prussian Carp {Carassius gibelio) (Kg. 89) is if possible 

 hardier than the Common Carp. It is a great lover of 

 stagnant water, and is therefore well fitted for a life in the 

 aquarium. In the country from which this fish takes its 



Fig. 89. Prussian Caep (Carassius gibelio). 



name, the breeding and feeding of Carp are an important and 

 very often a profitable business. The Gibel Carp is very 

 good to eat when properly cooked, and it does not taste, it is 

 said, of the water in which it lives. This fish attains no 

 great weight or size. Its habits and character are very 

 similar to those of the Common Carp, and in confinement it 

 should be fed on the same kind of food. It has an equal, if 

 not a greater, power of resisting the fatal effects of an 

 enforced absence from water. The chief difEerence between 

 the Prussian Carp and the Common Carp is the absence of 

 barbels on the sides of the mouth of the former. All fish of 

 the genus Carassius are without barbels. The body is broad 

 and deep, deeper in proportion than that of Gyprinus carpio. 

 The head is blunt, and the eyes are yellow. The mouth is small. 



