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Cyprinidae (Minnow and Carp Family), its habitats, characteristics, fishing methods and
techniques.
The family Cyprinidae, consists of the carps, the true minnows, and their relatives (e.g. the barbs and
barbels). Commonly called the carp family or the minnow family, its members are also known as cyprinids.
Carps (Cyprinidae) are quite extensive and widespread in Southern Europe, Central Asia, and North
America and partly in Africa. Cyprinidae (Minnow and Carp Family) is the most diverse and dynamic family
of Fish in the world. This Freshwater Fish Family alone includes over 2,000 species from small Fish
called �minnows� to larger Fish such as White Amur, Carp and Goldfish.
The largest cyprinid in this family is the Giant Barb, which may grow up to 9.8 ft (3 m).
The largest North American species is the Colorado Pikeminnow, which may grow up to 6 ft (1.8 m) long
and weigh over 100 lbs (45 kg). The smallest known freshwater fish is a cypriniform, Danionella
translucida, reaching 0.47 in (12 mm).
Numerous cyprinids have become important in the aquarium hobby, most famously the
Goldfish, which was bred in China from the Prussian Carp. Appeared first in Asia, primarily in China,
nobility as early as 1150 AD, from China carp came to Japan in 1502, and later around 1728 in Europe,
and as ornamental fish and as food. Until now, used for food in some of the East European countries,
carp was introduced to the USA around 1877 with a view to its use in food. In the latter country, from
the 18th century onwards the Common Carp was bred into the ornamental variety known as koi, simply means
"Common Carp" in Japanese.
Several cyprinids have been introduced to waters outside their natural range, fresh waters
of Africa, North America, Europe and Asia, to provide food, sport, or biological control for some pest
species. The Common Carp and the Grass Carp are the most important of these. In some cases, these have
become invasive species that compete with native fishes or disrupt the environment; carp in particular
can stir up the riverbed reducing the clarity of the water making it difficult for plants to grow.
Carps can be divided into two groups: one group consists of fish, deprived of their
antennae, and with single-line and distichous, pharyngeal teeth, the second group is fish with three-row
or distichous, pharyngeal teeth, and many species of this group in the corners of his mouth are
whiskers. Fish of the first group (dace, roach, minnow, chub, Podust, bream, etc.) are distributed
mainly in Europe, Asia north of the mountain ranges of Central Asia and the Amur basin. The second group
of fish (carp, crucian carp, barbel, gudgeon, Amur bream, etc.) is found mainly in Southeast Asia,
Africa and some species in Europe. Based on the widely accepted proposition that the center of one group
or another is the area where this group is represented by the largest number of species, the carp for
such a center is south-east Asia.
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Carp family (Cyprinus) is characterized by 4 barbells on the upper jaw and 5 pharyngeal barbells.
The shape of the body and tail coloration, size of fins in different species vary, usually the
color of golden-yellow or greenish, and the belly is gray or yellowish color. Mouth they bordered
on top only premaxillary bones, which are adjustably connected to the maxillary. Jaw has no teeth,
but the bones have pharyngeal teeth located in 1, 2 or 3 rows. The bottom surface of the skull (or
rather, the basic processes of the occipital bone) is a bone-cushion hornlike protrusion, which
together with pharyngeal teeth used for grinding food.
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In the unpaired fins, which are supported by soft, branched rays in the end, the first few rays not
branched (usually 2-4). The latter is not branched ray (often in the dorsal fin) can be thickened,
turned into a thorn, sometimes at the end of a flexible, and sometimes jagged on the trailing edge.
Bladder is usually large, consisting of 2 or even 3 cameras; the front part of the bladder is not
enclosed in a bony capsule (with the exception of some genera of minnows that live in the waters of the
Amur River and China). Scales cycloid with carp, some of it is completely absent (naked body). Carp
family includes more than 1500 species belonging to 275 genera.
Cyprinids are stomachless fish and the jaws are toothless. Food can be effectively chewed
by the gill rakers of the specialized last gill bow. These pharyngeal teeth allow can make chewing
motions against a chewing plate formed by a procession of the skull. The pharyngeal teeth are species
specific and are used by specialist to determine the species. Strong pharyngeal teeth allow fish like
the common carp to eat hard baits like snails and bivalves.
The body color can vary depending on habitat. His back is usually dark, even black color
with a greenish tinge, the sides - and whitish to yellowish belly. Slightly notched dorsal fin is dark
gray, abdominal, pectoral and anal fins are light gray with a purple tinge, tail is reddish-brown.
All fish in this family are egg-layers and most do not guard their eggs, however, there are a few
species that build nests and/or guard the eggs. The bitterling-like cyprinids (Acheilognathinae) are
notable for depositing their eggs in bivalve mollusks, where the young grow up until able to fend for
themselves.
Hearing is a well developed sense since the cyprinds have the Weberian organ, three
specialized vertebra processions that transfer motion of the gas bladder to the inner ear. This
construction is also used to observe motion of the gass bladder due to atmospheric conditions or depth
changes. The cyprinids are physostomes because the pneumatic duct is retained in adult stages and the
fish are able to gulp air to fill the gas bladder or they can dispose excess gas to the gut.
Habitat and Habits
Carp is omnivorous, very unpretentious fish. They prefer quiet and deep places, overgrown
with Potamogeton, water lilies, reeds and cattails. In rivers prefers areas with a quiet passage, lives
on the reach, in the bays and old women with well-developed aquatic vegetation. Carps conduct outgoing
way of life and not commit distant migrations. In the autumn, when water temperature decrease, they are
moving back into deep space, where they spend the winter.
Most cyprinids feed mainly on invertebrates and vegetation probably due to the lack of
teeth and stomach, but some species like the Asp specialize in fish. Some fishes are specialized in
eating vegetation grass carp, some eat algae from hard surfaces common nase, some specialize in snails
black carp and some are specialized filter feeders silver carp. For this reason they are often
introduced as a management tool to control aquatic vegetation, diseases transmitted by snails and other
purposes.
Cyprinids consume the most variety of foods: benthic organisms, not only the surface but
from the depths of the soil for more than 10 cm water column organisms (zooplankton, phytoplankton),
higher vegetation, and detritus (soil surface film, consisting of decomposing remains of animals and
plants); fish, as well as aerial insects accidentally fallen into the water. Young feeds on zooplankton
or rarely small zoobenthos. In general, the nature of certain types of food is very different. In
addition, each type of food varies with age and season to season and depends on the nature of the
reservoir. In the waters of Europe's most cyprinids (bream, white bream, dace, gudgeon, etc.) feed on
invertebrates living in soil and on different substrates (plants, rocks, soil), some (bleak, sabrefish,
common carp) feed on zooplankton and aerial insects.
Spawning
Sexual maturity occurs in 3-4 years. They spawn in shallow waters in the coastal zone
among the thickets of aquatic vegetation. Spawning occurs in late May and June at a temperature 17-20 �
C. Female usually carrying from 100.000 to 1, 5 million eggs. Eggs sticky buttonhole portions of the
submerged vegetation. Hatching larvae occurs within 6-15 days, depending on water temperature. Hatched
larvae first time hanging motionless on the plants, then begin to consume rotifers, ciliates, copepods.
After reaching a length of 2 cm, fry move to the consumption of mainly benthic organisms (clams, insect
larvae, and crustaceans). Significant place in the diet of carp is vegetable food (aquatic plants, seeds
are ground and surface plants).
Eight Asian carps have been substantially introduced outside of their native ranges:
Grass Carp (Ctenopharyngodon
idella),
Black Carp (Mylopharyngodon
piceus),
Silver Carp (Hypophthalmichthys
molitrix),
Bighead Carp
(Hypophthalmichthys nobilis),
Common Carp (Cyprinus carpio),
Crucian Carp (Carassius
carassius),
largescale silver carp (Hypophthalmichthys harmandi), common goldfish (Carassius auratus).
Because of their prominence, and because they were imported to the United States much
later than other carps native to Asia, the term "Asian carps", is often used in the United States with
the intended meaning of only grass, black, silver, and bighead carps. In the United States Asian carps
are considered to be nuisance invasive species. Of the Asian carps that have been introduced to the
United States, only two (crucian and black carps) are not known to be firmly established. Crucian carp
is probably extirpated.
Bighead, silver, and grass carps are known to be well-established in the Mississippi River
basin (including tributaries) of the United States, where they at times reach extremely high abundances,
especially in the case of the bighead and silver carps. Bighead, silver, and grass carp have been
captured in that watershed from Louisiana to South Dakota, Minnesota, and Ohio. Grass carp are also
established in at least one other watershed, in Texas, and may be established elsewhere.
Common carp are not now normally prized as a foodfish in the United States. They are often
known to uproot vegetation and muddy water through their habit of rooting in the mud for food. They are
thought to often have detrimental effects on native species. However, common carp are prized in Europe
as a sportfish, and angling for common carp is enjoying increased popularity in the United States.
Silver carp have become notorious for being easily frightened by boats and personal watercraft, which
causes them to leap high into the air. The fish can jump 8�10 feet (2.5�3 m) into the air, and numerous
boaters have been injured by collisions with the fish. Silver carp can grow to 40 pounds (18 kg) in
mass. This behavior has sometimes also been attributed to the very similar bighead carp, but this is
apocryphal information. Bighead carp do not normally jump when frightened.
In previous years, carp are not recognized by many anglers as the object of fishing. They
considered it dirty and unpleasant fish. But now he has earned great respect among the fishermen, who
finally realized the true potential of this fish as a large, intelligent and strong opponent in sport
fishing!
In China, the carp was the first fish, which was used as food, along with several other forms of
domesticated fish. The Chinese domesticated species include the Mirror, leathery carp and crucian carp,
which has a smaller mustache and a relative of the golden fish.
The Japanese are responsible for the appearance of Koi carp, which is a large, ornamental variety, with
a mixture of colors including white, orange, gold and black.
Carp is a valuable fish, which is rapidly growing and highly palatable artificial feed, as
the object of growing carp in cages is of great interest. Most common: scaly carp, all of whose body is
covered with scales, placed in regular rows in three directions, with a pronounced lateral line; mirror
carp - have large scales covering the whole body or specific areas on the back, on the sidelines and on
the abdomen; mirror line -- with an equal number of scales along the lateral line; naked carp, whose
body is deprived flake cover, except for a few scales near the base of the dorsal fin, head and tail.
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