Carp

Closely related to the goldfish, carp are native to Asia and eastern Europe. 

The first treatise on carp culture was written by Fan Li, an ancient Chinese advisor in the state of Yue in the Spring and Autumn Period. It gave useful advice on the construction, harvesting and economic management of fishponds.

Monks brought them to western Europe from the 13th century as food. Carp ponds in the Middle Ages kept monasteries, courts and manors supplied with fresh food.

Image by Chat GBT

Monks fattened the carp up to feast on and they were a delicacy in Tudor England.

Anglers see carp as the cleverest freshwater fish. In The Compleat Angler (1653), Izaak Walton calls it a 'river-fox' and a 'very subtle fish.'

In 1983, Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi blew up Richard Branson's prize carp. Iommi was at the Virgin head honcho's recording studios and launched fireworks into his private lake and accidentally destroyed some of his fish. Iommi described Branson as 'not happy at all' about it.

Demand for carp has declined in time, partly due to the appearance of more desirable table fish such as trout and salmon through intensive farming, and environmental constraints. However, in Germany and Austria carp is still part of Christmas Eve dinner.

Although the carp was not brought to the United States until 1876, it is now established in nearly all parts of the country.

In 2016 the Australian government released a strain of herpes into its waterways to kill an invasive European carp species.

Common carp can grow up to 5ft long.

Carp feed on water plants, crustaceans, insects and smaller fish.

They are often considered an invasive species because they can decimate other fish populations.

Carp have teeth at the back of the throat, which they use to crush and grind food.

One female can lay up to one million eggs in a single spawning. But many eggs and young fish perish because of disease or predators.

The biggest carp ever caught was a Siamese carp weighing 232 lbs (105 kg) landed at Gillhams Fishing Resorts in Krabi, Thailand, by British angler, John Harvey. 

In August 2011, while headlining the Tennent's Vital festival in Bangor, Northern Ireland, the rapper Eminem requested a custom wooden pond stocked with koi carp to be constructed in his private backstage garden area. The request was reportedly intended to create a relaxing environment before his performance.

Carp are amongst the longest-lived fish species, with wild specimens over 60 years old being recorded.

Source Daily Mail