Common Carp, Cyprinus carpio

The common carp (Cyprinus carpio) belongs to the family Cyprinidae. In nature, carp live in the middle or lower reaches of a river with slow currents, or in marshes. Their habitats are usually weedy areas with a muddy bottom. Carp fry feed on zooplankton such as rotifers and copepods, but as they grow up they become benthic feeders, feeding on animals and other organic material. The cyprinids have been farmed since ancient times and today they are undoubtedly the most important teleost family cultivated on a global scale, the current production figure reaching over 13 million tons year−1. The common carp is an important culture species among the cyprinids, next only to silver carp and grass carp (Fig. 18.1), and its production has doubled over the last decade, reaching about 2.5 million tons in 1998, valued at US$2.8 billion (Fig. 18.2). A large percentage of this is from the Asian region, particularly China. While production of common carp is widely practised, only about 3% of the cyprinids are cultivated in intensive systems (Tacon, 1993). Traditionally, carp are cultured in ponds or rice paddies, while advanced culture systems include irrigation ponds, running-water systems and net cages in lakes. The more organized culture techniques involve maintenance of breeders, fry production, yearling production and marketable fish production. The operations and feeding practices are outlined in Table 18.1. Relatively low-cost prepared diets are in vogue and little effort has been made to supply adequate amounts of nutrients from carefully selected ingredients, despite the existence of a great deal of scientific information.