Common Carp

Where it lives

Native to the Black, Caspian, and Aral Sea basins, the common carp has been spread by humans to almost every continent. It thrives in warm, slow, vegetated rivers, lakes, and ponds and tolerates low oxygen, turbidity, and pollution.

How to recognise it

A thick-bodied fish with large scales, an arched back, and a long-based dorsal fin with a serrated leading spine. The base color is bronze to olive. Two pairs of barbels frame the downturned, protrusible mouth. Selectively bred forms include mirror carp (sparse scales) and leather carp (scaleless).

Diet & behavior

Omnivorous bottom-grubbers that vacuum soft substrates for plant matter, seeds, insect larvae, mollusks, and crustaceans. Their feeding stirs sediment and can degrade habitat for other species — the basis for their invasive reputation. Spring spawning is explosive, with broadcast eggs sticking to vegetation.

Fisheries & Conservation

Listed as Vulnerable in its native range due to habitat loss, even as the species thrives worldwide. Eastern European carp ponds are some of the oldest aquaculture systems in the world.