Different Types of Carp and How to Tell Them Apart

Having a hard time identifying carp? You are not the only one! With over a hundred carp species, it can be tricky to know which one is which. Luckily for us, scientists and avid enthusiasts have done a good job at identifying them! Here are the different types of carp which are well adapted to local conditions and water temperatures.

Common Carp

Commoncarp 1

Common carp are, as their name suggests, the most common and well-known of the fish species. They have no natural predators, so they can grow to be very large. They are typically brown or black in color, with some varieties having a greenish hue.

Fun fact: Common carp were originally introduced into Europe by French monks in the Middle Ages, but they quickly escaped into the wild. Since then, they have spread around the world on their own through accidental introductions into new waters.

Appearance

Common carp can grow up to 3 feet long and weigh up to 100 pounds (45 kg). They have a long, torpedo-shaped body with a large head and mouth that contain rows of sharp teeth. They are grayish-green on top with a lighter belly that has dark spots or blotches.

Behavior

Common carp are omnivorous fish that feed on plants, insects, and other small invertebrates. They also eat their own eggs. Common carp are bottom-feeders that live in lakes, ponds, and slow-moving rivers with sandy bottoms. They generally spawn between March and June when water temperatures reach 16 degrees Celsius (61 degrees Fahrenheit). Common carp usually spawn over gravel or rocks near shorelines or in shallow areas.

Location

Common carp are the most widely distributed types of carp in the world. They can be found in lakes, rivers, and streams throughout Europe, Asia, North America, and Australia. These fish are often referred to as European carp or Eurasian carp, but they actually have their origins in Mongolia.

They are often found in large schools during spawning season but tend to be solitary during other times of the year. They prefer shallow waters with vegetation cover for protection from predators such as pike or perch.

Mirror Carp

Mirrorcarp 1

The mirror carp is a species of large freshwater fish in the Cyprinidae family. They are an extremely popular sport fish.

Appearance

As its name suggests, it has “mirror” scales scattered on its body. Unlike the Common carp, the Mirror cap includes a rounder and fuller body. If you are wondering why the Mirror carp looks almost identical to the Common carp, it’s because they are a mutation!

Behavior

Mirror carp are opportunistic feeders. They feed on algae, insects, small crustaceans, mollusks, and plant matter, and even smaller fish.

Location

Mirror carp are native to Asia, with their range extending from the Caspian Sea to Lake Balkhash. You can also find these fish in North America and Europe.

Leather Carp

You’ll find the Leather carp in the Riverlands, and you can easily identify them thanks to their leathery texture.

Appearance

Leather carp is one of the rarest types of carp. It has a distinctive leathery-looking skin covered with scales that overlap like shingles on a roof. The scales can be an off-white or gold color. Leather carp have long dorsal fins that run along the length of their backs from head to tail. Their mouths are small, and they have very few visible teeth. They also have eyes often red or yellowish in color with black pupils. Their bodies are usually silver or gray in color with darker spots on them (or sometimes just dark overall). They can grow up to 60 inches long and weigh up to 100 pounds.

Behavior

Leather carp are not normally aggressive towards other fish, but they will attack if they feel threatened. They also eat other species of fish that are too small to defend themselves against them. This makes them unsuitable for tank mates with small species of fish like guppies and tetras. Leather carp are omnivorous, so they will eat both meaty foods and plant-based foods like algae wafers or flakes.

Location

You can find Leather carp in most of Europe’s rivers and some parts of Asia and North America. The most famous lake you can find a Leather carp is Lake Seen in China. Lake Elbe in Germany is also an excellent spot for this type of carp.

Unfortunately, due to the breed’s vulnerability to diseases, slow growth, and low productivity rate, you’ll find most Leather carp in fisheries.

Linear Carp

Like Leather carp, the Linear carp is rare to find in the wild and mostly kept in commercial fisheries.

Appearance

The Linear carp is one of the most unique species of carp. It has scales along the lateral lines, reduced fins, a low number of gill rakers, and a scale pattern similar to a Mirror carp.

Behavior

Like other types of carp, Linear carp pretty much eats anything. They feed on insects, plants, and algae, and will often feed on plankton during their younger years before moving on to larger prey. They also eat organic matter.

Location

You will find a Linear carp in shallow waters, usually 3-12 ft. Unfortunately, catching Linear carp out in the wild is almost impossible. Like the Leather carp, it is prone to diseases and doesn’t adapt well to cold temperatures.

Bighead Carp

A close-up photo of a Bighead carp

The Bighead carp or Hypophthalmichthys nobilis is one of the most invasive species in the world. It consumes large amounts of food, outcompetes native fish, and can disrupt aquatic ecosystems.

Appearance

The Bighead Carp is a large fish with a long body and thick tail. It has a large head with a small mouth and eyes, and a long dorsal fin. The scales on the fish are rough and serrated. The color of the Bighead Carp can be grey to bronze-gold in color, with black spots or blotches on the body.

Behavior

Bighead carp spawn during the spring months (March to May) in open water areas like ponds or lakes. Spawning occurs when water temperatures reach between 12-18 degrees Celsius. Bighead carp are filter feeders, meaning they use their gill rakers to strain food particles from the water column. They feed on algae and bottom-dwelling organisms such as worms, insect larvae, and crustaceans.

Location

The Bighead Carp is a member of the Cyprinidae family. It is native to Eastern Asia but has been introduced to many other parts of the world, including North America, South America, Africa, and Australia.

Black Carp

A picture of a Black carp

The Black Carp is another invasive species in the United States. It can eat 20% of its body weight per day, impacting mussels and snail populations.

Appearance

Black Carp is one of the largest types of carp in the world, with some specimens reaching up to 1 meter long. They have large scales and a large mouth with sharp teeth, which they use to feed on mollusks, algae, and other aquatic plants.

Behavior

Black carp are herbivores and feed on vegetation near the water surface. They live in large schools. During winter, they form dense schools near the bottom of deep rivers. Spawning occurs from May to June. The eggs usually stick to the substrate or plants. The larvae hatch after 2–3 days, depending on water temperature, and begin feeding on planktonic organisms in about ten days.

Location

Black carp (Mylopharyngodon piceus) is a species of freshwater fish in the cyprinid family, native to East Asia. The United States imported Black carp during the 1970s. By the 90s, fish farms used this type of carp to control the pond snail population. Unfortunately, there were some escapees during a 1994 flash flood. Since then, the species has been spotted in Louisiana, Ohio River, Arkansas, Tennessee.

Ghost Carp

The Ghost carp or Ghost koi is a hybrid type of carp, which resulted from mating a Common carp with a Koi carp.

Appearance

Ghost carp are white-colored fish with black spots on their body. They have very small scales, which make them hard to see at night when they feed in shallow water near the surface of lakes and rivers. Ghost carps can grow up to 1 meter long but are usually less than half this size when caught by anglers. Their main predators are alligators, otters, and large catfish, but they also eat smaller fish such as minnows, crawfish, insects, and crayfish.

Behavior

Like other carp, they are omnivorous and will eat insects, plants, and plankton.

Location

It’s also impossible to find a Ghost carp in the wild. They are much common in fisheries and private ponds. If you want to try catching Ghost carp, look for an area with shallow, calm, slow-moving waters like lakes and swamps.

Koi Carp

Several Koi carp in a pond

Koi carp are one of the most sought-after fish in the world. The Japanese and ChineseKoi Carp have bred Kois for centuries due to this type of carp’s ornamental value and decorative use in ponds.

Appearance

The Koi Carp is a large species of fish that can reach up to 2 meters (6 ft 7 in) long and weigh 45 kilograms (99 lb). They are identifiable by their deep bodies, large scales, and long flowing fins. The most popular coloring for koi carp is black with white markings, but there are other colors available, including red, orange, blue, and yellow-green. The fish can be bred to have two or three colors at once, such as red and white or black and yellow-green.

Behavior

Koi carp are carnivorous fish that prefer live food such as worms and insects. However, they can also eat fish. The spawning season for Koi Carp takes place during spring or summer when the water temperature rises above 20°C (68°F).

The female Koi releases her eggs into the water. A male Koi will then fertilize it and guard the eggs until they hatch about three weeks later. The fry stay in their parent’s territory for several months until they grow big enough to fend for themselves or start migrating into other areas in search of food sources.

Location

Koi carp are usually kept in ponds. The majority of these fish come from Japan and China, although there are some breeders in Europe and the United States as well. The most popular Koi carp varieties include Shiro Utsuri and Koigui.

Silver Carp

A picture of Silver Carp

Silver carp are a species of freshwater fish in the family Cyprinidae found in Asia. They have been introduced to many other areas of the world, including Australia and North America, often as food fish. However, they have also become invasive species in some locations where they outcompete native fish and are damaging to local ecosystems.

Appearance

Silver carp has a silver-gray body with a forked tail, a blunt head, and two barbels (whiskers) on the chin. The scales on its body are large, cycloid, and metallic. Silver Carp is capable of growing up to 2 meters in length and is considered one of the largest freshwater fishes in the world.

Behavior

Silver carp are omnivorous fish that eat just about anything they can find, including insects, algae, and plants. They also feed on other fish, including smaller carp species such as the Grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon Idella). Each year there are several massive gatherings of these fish where they meet up to spawn at certain locations in rivers and lakes throughout their range.

Silver carp are very aggressive at breeding time and will actually jump out of the water when spawning. This is why they were named silver carp because it resembles catching a piece of silver foil when it jumps out of the water during mating season (November-December).

Location

Silver carp can be found in many parts of the world, including China, India, Russia, and North America. In North America, they were introduced into the Mississippi River in the 70s to control algae growth but have since migrated into other areas due to their ability to adapt to new environments.

Grass Carp

A picture of a Grass carp

Grass carp, also known as the White Amur or Black Amur, is a species of freshwater fish in the Cyprinidae family. It is native to Asia, where it occurs in China (including the Yangtze River), Japan, Korea, and Vietnam.

Appearance

Grass carp can reach lengths of up to 1 meter (3 feet) long and weigh up to 40 kilograms (88 pounds). They have an olive-green back, a white belly, silvery sides, and a distinctive black band near their tail fins. Their mouths are wide with very small teeth located on their tongue instead of their jaws like most other types of fish.

Behavior

Grass carp is the only carp among different types of carp that uses its long snouts to root out aquatic vegetation. They also filter food particles from the water using gill rakers. Male Grass carp build nests by creating a depression in the substrate with their mouths. The females deposit their eggs into these nests, where they are fertilized by the males. The incubation period is about two weeks long, at which point the young will hatch out of the sacs. The young Grass carp remain in these nests for another two weeks before leaving them to fend for themselves in the wild.

Location

Grass carp are native to Asia. They have been introduced throughout the world as food fish. Some of the countries where they have been introduced include Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. Grass Carp were first introduced in the United States in the 60s for aquaculture purposes. The grass carp has also been used by some people as a method of controlling aquatic weeds because of its ability to eat large amounts of vegetation per day.

Crucian Carp

Two freshly caught Crucian carp

The Crucian carp is an omnivore that primarily eats algae but also consumes other aquatic plants as well as small invertebrates like worms or insect larvae when they become available in their habitat. They can also eat plant matter such as seeds or buds if they find them while feeding on algae blooms on the surface.

Appearance

The Crucian carp has a triangular-shaped body, and its scales are quite small. They have a silver color on their back, but they have a golden belly. The Crucian carp has a round mouth with many teeth, which is used to eat algae and plants in lakes and rivers. It also has two dorsal fins, two pectoral fins, and two pelvic fins. The Crucian carp can grow up to 20 inches long, but it can be as small as 12 inches long too. Its lifespan can be up to 40 years old if it lives in good conditions.

Behavior

The Crucian carp is omnivorous and eats both plant material and animal matter. It feeds on algae, snails, insects, worms, and even small fish (if they can catch them). The Crucian carp spawns during the summer months when water temperatures reach around 60 degrees Fahrenheit (15 degrees Celsius). Females lay eggs in shallow waters where there is plenty of oxygen available for their young hatchlings to survive after birth. The female lays between 200-1000 eggs at one time, depending upon her size and age. These eggs hatch within 48 hours of being laid by the female.

Location

Crucian carp is a common and widespread carp species found throughout Europe, Asia, and North Africa. They have also been introduced to Australia, South Africa, and the USA. They are often confused with the Common carp due to their similar appearance. However, Crucian carp can be distinguished by the fact that they have fewer scales on their upper body and lack barbels on their lower lip (which is used for finding food). Crucian carp are also more tolerant of cold water than Common carp.

F1 Carp

F1 carp are hybrids between wild and farmed carp. You can find them in lakes, rivers, and ponds. They have a rounded body shape and have no scales on their back. They can also grow to 40lb or more.

Appearance

The F1 carp is a hybrid between a common carp and a mirror carp. The color of their scales ranges from silver to orange to yellow, with black spots covering their bodies. The fins are long and pointed, which makes them easy to identify as F1 carp.

Behavior

They spawn at different times, depending on the location and environment. In the wild, they spawn in the spring and early summer when water temperatures reach 68 degrees F or above. In captivity, they may spawn at any time but typically do so in the spring or early summer months when water temperatures reach 68 degrees F or above.

An F1 carp has a wide variety of foods that it eats, such as earthworms, snails, insects, small fish, and plant matter (leaves). An F1 carp hunts using sight rather than scent, so they will wait until their prey comes close enough before striking at them.

Location

The F1 carp is one of the most popular species kept as pets by aquarium enthusiasts due to its striking colors and behavior. They can be found in countries all over the world, including Japan and China, where they are often used for food purposes as well as being kept as pets.

Summing up

The average person doesn’t know the difference between a cyprinid and a catfish, let alone any other type of fish. If you’re one of these people, have no fear. Hopefully, this article has given you some insight into the different types of carp that exist in the world today.

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