THE CARP FAMILY 
253 
to monsters of 6 feet or more in length. Some of the largest are found in the Tigris; but 
the Mahseer of India must be regarded as the king of all the species. In some of the 
rivers flowing from the Himalaya Mountains are curious Barbel which have their vent and 
anal fin in a sheath covered with large scales. Roach are important members of the Carp 
Family, and the Roach group is a very large one, including the various fishes coming under the 
term of “ white fish” in Germany. The Roach proper is common all over Europe north of 
the Alps. In this group is the Ide of the central and northern parts of Europe, which when 
domesticated becomes golden in hue, and is then called the Golden Orf, a pretty fish kept in 
many English aquariums. Rudd are found all over Europe and Asia Minor. Of Tench, 
only- one species is known, the Golden Tench being merely a variety differing in the matter of 
colour. The Bream group consists of the Common Bream, Bream-flat, and the American Bream, 
or Shiner. Lastly, we may mention the Bleak group, of which there are fifteen known species 
in Europe, East Africa, and the temperate parts of Asia. This list by no means exhausts the 
numerous members of the Carp Family. 
The C0M.MON Carp is one of the most 
remarkable fishes which swim. In early times 
in England it was extensively cultivated as 
a food-fish, and in Germany at the present 
day is as much domesticated as the sheep, 
pig, or ox. The fish-culturists have indeed 
done extraordinary things with it, having, for 
instance, produced a variety with a single 
row of scales down each side and sometimes 
on the back only, called the Mirror-CARP, or 
King-carp. There is also the Le.\ther-carp, 
with no scales at all, which is much esteemed 
in Germany. 
There is reason to believe that the common 
carp was originally a native of the East, and 
it certainly has been domesticated in China 
for many hundreds of years. Thence it is 
supposed to have been imported to Germany 
and Sweden, reaching England some time in 
the early years of the fifteenth century. In 
that curious work the' “ Boke of St. Albans,” 
published in 1496, it is said that the carp is 
a “ dayntous fysshe, but there ben fewe in Englonde, and therefore I wryte the lesse of hym.” 
China is the home of the GOLD-FiSH, a pretty little carp common in that country and 
the warmer parts of Japan. The Chinese have distorted Nature with regard to this fish even 
more than the Germans have the common carp. Their most extraordinary monstrosity is, 
perhaps, the Telescope-FISH, which has a huge tail and projecting eyes. It is believed that 
gold-fish were not known in England before the year 1691. 
The carp has many interesting peculiarities. It is an extraordinarily fertile fish, and 
one of the most rapid growers in fresh-water. Under the most favourable conditions it 
attains a weight of from 3 to lbs. in three years. In a pond which is overstocked, carp 
hardly increase in weight at all ; while, on the other hand, their growth in hot countries is 
very much greater than above stated. A fish of from 4 to 5 lbs. may contain, on an average, 
from 400,000 to 500,000 eggs; these are spawned in May or June, and hatched in from 
twelve to sixteen days, according to the temperature. 
The life of this curious fish may be one of extraordinary duration, carp having been known 
to attain an age of a hundred years or more. When very old, they are apt to go blind and 
develop white marks, due to the growth of funguses. 
17 
