312 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 



C&rp (Cyprinus carpio Linnaeus). 



Cypri?ius carpio DeKay, N. Y. Fauna, Fishes, 188, 1842; Jordan & Gilbert, Bull. 16, U. S. 

 Nat. Mus., 254, 1883; Bean, Fishes Penna., 55, pi. 1, colored, 1893. 



The carp is a native of Asia and has been introduced into Europe and America 

 as a food fish, chiefly for pond culture. It thrives in all warm and temperate 

 parts of the United States, and reaches its best condition in open waters. In 

 Texas it has grown to a length of twenty-three inches in eleven months after 

 planting. The leather variety is most hardy for transportation. Mr. Hessel has 

 taken the carp in the Black and Caspian Seas; salt water seems not to be 

 objectionable to it, and it will live in stagnant pools, though its flesh will 

 be decidedly inferior in such waters. The carp hibernates in winter except in 

 warm latitudes, takes no food and does not grow; its increase in size in temperate 

 latitudes occurs only from May to August. 



The spawning season begins in May and continues in some localities till 

 August. A carp weighing four to five pounds, according to Mr. Hessel, yields 

 from 400,000 to 500,000 eggs; the scale carp contains rather more than the other 

 varieties. During the spawning the fish frequently rise to the surface, the female 

 accompanied by two or three males. The female drops the eggs at intervals 

 during a period of some days or weeks in shallow water on aquatic plants. The 

 eggs adhere in lumps to plants, twigs and stones. The hatching period varies 

 from twelve to sixteen days. 



According to Hessel the average weight of a carp at three years is from three 

 to three and one half pounds; with abundance of focd it will increase more 

 rapidly in weight. The carp continues to add to its circumference till its thirty- 

 fifth year, and in the southern parts of Europe Mr. Hessel has seen individuals 

 weighing forty pounds and measuring three and one half feet in length and two 

 and three fourths feet in circumference. 



The carp lives principally on vegetable food, preferably the seeds of water 

 plants such as the water lilies, wild rice and water oats. It will eat lettuce, 

 cabbage, soaked barley, wheat, rice, corn, insects and their larvae, worms and 

 meats of various kinds. It can readily be caught with dough, grains of barley 

 or wheat, worms, maggots, wasp larvae and sometimes with pieces of beef or fish. 



Large individuals are found in Prospect Park Lake, Brooklyn, where the 

 species was introduced. The food of the fish in captivity includes hard clams, 

 earthworms, wheat, corn, lettuce and cabbage. Its growth is remarkable; a 

 leather carp has fully doubled its weight in one year. 



