Carp Lifecycle
Scientific Name: Cyprinus carpio
Habitat: lowland lakes, and rivers
Distribution Originally Southern Europe and Black Sea area; introduced in Northern Europe, North and South America, Australia, New Zealand, parts of Asia and Africa.
Now an extremely widely distributed fish, the common carp belongs to the large, freshwater family Cyprinidae. Carp are robust, fairly deep-bodied fishes; some are fully scaled, but there are other varieties, such as leather carp, which are scaleless, and mirror carp (illustrated here), which have some exceptionally large scales on the sides and at the base of the dorsal fin. Inhabitants of slow-moving waters with much vegetation, carp tolerate low oxygen levels which would be fatal for many other fishes. They feed mostly on crustaceans, insect larvae, molluscs and some vegetation. Breeding occurs in spring and summer. The eggs are laid in shallow water, where they adhere to aquatic plants until they hatch.