CARP. 
727 
rough (granulated), furnished with a great number of 
small, verrucose protuberances (thickened parts). The 
lateral line descends from the temporal region in a 
slight, but regular curve down to the middle of the 
depth of the body at about the tip of the pectoral fins, 
from which point it advances, straight and uninter- 
rupted, to the middle of the base of the caudal fin. 
The duct in each scale is short, and pierces only about 
the middle third of the length of the scale. It has long 
been known, however, that, in addition to the ordinary 
Carp, there occur varieties (see our figure) which are 
distinguished by the absence of scales and the greater 
thickness of the skin on a greater or less part of the 
body, the scales on the other parts being considerably, 
even monstrously enlarged. One of these varieties is 
represented in our figure. The largest scales lie in the 
lateral line, in a continuous or an interrupted row. One 
or two rows of rather large scales generally coast the 
dorsal margin of this variety. The belly is clothed with 
ordinary scales. As the large scales on the sides of 
the body most often possess an iridescent or a vitreous 
lustre, this variety has been named spegelkarp (Mirror 
Carp). Another variety, which is entirely without scales, 
but has a still thicker skin, is known as the Leather 
Carp ( laderkarpen ). 
There is hardly any external difference between 
the sexes, except during the spawning-season, at which 
time the males are marked by a dermal eruption, con- 
sisting of small, white tubercles, on the cheeks and 
gill-covers. 
The usual coloration is olive green, on the back 
darker, sometimes blackish brown, on the belly lighter, 
sometimes yellowish white, on the sides with a coppery 
or brassy lustre. It is, however, subject to consider- 
able variations, shading on the back into blue or red, 
on the sides still oftener into red, a colour especially 
characteristic of the so-called Leather Carp. This 
ground-colour is diversified by the black edges and 
centre of each separate scale. The dorsal and caudal 
fins shade most often into gray, the paired fins and the 
anal fin into red. In the reddish varieties, however, all 
the fins share in the general tone of colour. The iris 
is yellow, with a bright golden margin round the pupil. 
In captivity albinos sometimes occur. 
The natural range of the Carp extends from Japan 
and China through Central Asia to Eastern Europe. It 
“ Den DansJce Atlas , p. 053. 
b See, Yarrell, Brit . Fish ., ed. 2, vol. I, p. 350 and Day, 1. 
is difficult to fix the limit of the Carp’s natural range 
in Central Europe; but it has been introduced in a 
state of domestication throughout the rest of Europe, 
except the extreme north, and has also been transported 
to the East Indian Archipelago, Australia, and North 
America. In India it is unknown. Subsequent to its in- 
troduction it has spread to the lakes and rivers of these 
regions, where it now lives even in a state of freedom. 
Kroyer assumes, with great probability, that it was 
during the Roman Catholic times, when fish was the 
only animal food permitted during Lent, that the Carp 
was introduced by the monks into Denmark and the 
south of Sweden, and began to be cultivated in ponds 
at the convents. We have no positive information, 
however, on this point. An old tradition, on the other 
hand, quoted from Pontoppidan" by Bloch, Kroyer, 
and Nilsson, but also in need of confirmation, ascribes 
the introduction to a later date, when Peder Oxe 
(L567 — 1575) was Lord Steward of Denmark and owned 
large estates in Scania. In England Carp existed, though 
their number was small, in 1496, according to Dame 
Juliana Berner’s Boke of St. Albans 6 ; and at the pre- 
sent day the Carp is very common in that country. 
The Carp, like the other Cyprinoids, is by nature a 
fresh-water fish, but it can also endure salt water. In 
the Caspian Sea, according to Pallas, the Carp lives 
in water so salt that hardly any other fish can sustain 
life there. In brackish water it occurs, according to 
Mobius and Heincke, in the Schlei at Schleswig. In 
Sweden it has spread from the ponds to the lakes and 
rivers, principally in Scania. It has also been culti- 
vated, without doubt, on the estates of Central Sweden, 
for it occurs, though extremely rare, in Lake Malar, where 
in June, 1888 a fisherman from Sundbyholm (Soder- 
manland) caught the female Mirror Carp represented 
in our figure (7 3 of the natural size). Neither he nor his 
acquaintances had ever seen one of these fishes before. 
In a state of nature the Carp haunts places with 
a luxuriant vegetation, being by no means averse to a 
muddy bottom, but requiring clear water and free access 
to the sunlight. Distinction has long been made be- 
tween River Carp, Lake Carp , and Pond Carp, which 
generally differ not only in their coloration, which 
adapts itself to the bottom and the water, but also in 
their flavour, which is best in the first-mentioned forms, 
worst in the last-mentioned, unless the pond has been 
c., p. 103. 
Scandinavian Fishes. 
92 
