The Carp (lat. Cyprinus carpio) is native to Asia but has been introduced into Europe and North America and elsewhere. The carp are extremely popular with anglers in many parts of Europe.
There are different variants of carp:
The Wild Carp (lat. Cyprinus carpio) fully scaled carp. The The carp are not native to Europe waters but can be found in all still waters and slow flowing rivers. The wild carp has a sleek powerful body with a dark almost black back and deep golden coloured sides and a creamy white body. The wild Carp prefer rooting around the silt bottoms of ponds and lakes.
The Carp (lat. Cyprinus carpio carpio) a very large group of fish native to Europe and Asia. A large-scaled fish with two barbels on each side of its upper jaw, the carp lives alone or in small schools in quiet, weedy, mud-bottomed ponds, lakes, and rivers.
The Mirror Carp (lat. Cyprinus rex cyprinorum) scaled with large, uneven mirror like scales. Where there are no scales the body is smooth. The Mirror carp has a more rounded shape to its body. The scales on the body are generally large and non uniform in pattern but there are exceptions to the rule.
The Linear Carp scale less except for a row of large scales that run along the lateral line on both sides. Linears have a set of mirror scales which run in a line directly down the linear line on the side of the fish and it has no scales anywhere else. Relatively rare.
The Leather Carp (lat. Cyprinus nudus) smooth bodied, virtually unscaled except near dorsal fin. The Leather Carp has no scales on its body at all although it is accepted that a fish with line of scales underneath the dorsal fin is still counted a Leather Carp. The body colour of the fish is the same as the Mirror carp and can range from a pale yellow to a dark gold colour dependant on water conditions.
Carp eat from the bottom. Using their barbels, they feel the bottom for such animals as worms, mollusks and crustaceans.
Carp are caught using various methods including float, ledger or feeder. Baits for catching Carp are worms, boilies, trout pellets, tiger nuts, peanuts, maize, brandlings, bread, casters, maggots, pinkies, and sweetcorn.
2014-01-19
