Two general kinds of carp are present in North American waters: the common carp, Cyprinus carpio, and several species of closely-related carp collectively known as Asian carp.
Both the common carp and the species we call Asian carp are invasive species, and though they’re infrequently targeted by rod and reel anglers, bow fishermen find the possibility of skewering a big carp truly exciting.
But there are many other species of carp when we look outside Canada and America, including some interesting hybrids.
In this article, we’ll break down these species and investigate what you need to know about carp.
If you want to know more about carp and carp fishing, keep reading!
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North American Carp
Eurasian or “common” carp
Cyprinus carpio is native to the waters of the Danube in Europe and the sluggish waters in Anatolia, Turkey.
Known as the “common” carp in America and Canada, the Eurasian carp was introduced in the US in 1831, where it was hoped it would catch on as a food fish. That gamble was backed by the Eurasian carp’s enduring popularity as a meal across Central Europe, and the bet was that immigrants from Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Austria would take the fish in America, too.
Unfortunately, that gamble didn’t pay off.
Instead, American diners hold a strong preference for filets of fish, and the tiny bones of carp necessitate cooking these beasts whole. And since common carp grow quickly, reproduce easily, and prove hardy even in low oxygen, high turbidity environments, they rapidly grew in number.
That’s proven to be something of a problem. Lacking sufficient natural predators or intensive commercial fishing, carp numbers exploded. And their feeding habits, especially their propensity for rooting through the soil on the bottom to eat aquatic plants, can diminish the habitat for native species like canvasback duck by increasing the turbidity of water.
Common carp habitat and diet
The common carp are hardy fish that can survive in a wide variety of habitats. Marine biologists note that while carp generally prefer “lakes, ponds, and the lower sections of rivers” – where water flow is sluggish at best – they can also spread to “brackish-water estuaries, backwaters, and bays.”
Carp don’t particularly enjoy clear water or fast currents.
Still, murky water with plenty of aquatic vegetation is just perfect for carp.
What they love, however, are “manmade [sic] impoundments, lakes, and turbid sluggish streams receiving sewage or agricultural runoff.” There, the agricultural wastes feed aquatic vegetation and encourage the growth of marine invertebrates that common carp love to eat.
And make no mistake about it: the common carp is an omnivore that feeds on vegetation, snails, insects, crawfish, and plankton.
Growing quickly on this rich diet, they reach maturity quickly, measuring 16 to 31 inches and as heavy as 30 pounds or so.
Common carp identification
If you look carefully at this fish, you’ll see those barbels.
The common carp is pretty easy to identify.
It’ll be armored by a shiny, gold- to copper-colored head. Scale color can vary a lot but is usually golden to coppery-brown.
Also look for a long, sickle-shaped dorsal fin with 2 to 3 hard and 17 to 22 soft rays. That first ray is a sharp, serrated spine, so be careful handling this fish!
You’ll also find two pairs of barbels, one on the lower mouth and one on the upper lip.
That makes it pretty easy to tell the difference between a common carp and a bigmouth buffalo, but for bow anglers, the major sign to shoot should be color.
“Asian carp”
It’s not hard to figure out where the bighead got its name.
Collectively, the bighead carp, black carp, grass carp, and silver carp make up a family of fish we refer to as the “Asian carp.”
According to the National Park Service, “These four species of fish were introduced to the U.S. in the 1970’s to control algae, weed, and parasite growth in aquatic farms, weeds in canal systems, and as one form of sewage treatment.”
That makes sense – at least on paper- given that two of these species, the grass and black carp, are voracious herbivores that can eat up to 40% of their body weight in aquatic vegetation per day. The other two species, the bighead and silver carp, dine on plankton, including the larval stages of parasites.
The Invasive Species Centre of Canada observes that “Silver and Bighead Carps have established populations throughout the Mississippi River Basin and are now in the Illinois Waterway and within striking distance of Lake Michigan and the Great Lakes. Black Carp are spreading towards the Illinois River and recent evidence has found natural reproduction of Grass Carp in two U.S. tributaries of Lake Erie, which is an immediate threat to Lake Erie.”
All carp create a problem for local wildlife.
Because they grow and reproduce quickly, and can survive in marginal environments, they can outcompete native species or food and space. That can lead to rapid declines of indigenous species of all kinds.
For instance, bighead carp “are voracious eaters and consume a wide range of zooplankton, detritus and small invertebrates, outcompeting native species for food. Bighead Carp lack a true stomach, which requires them to feed almost continuously.”
Add to this that Silver carp are easily disturbed by vibrations like the prop on an outboard, and you can get a serious issue for anglers and recreational boaters.