Species: Ctenopharyngodon idella
Grass Carp
Species
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Encyclopedia of Puget Sound
Classification
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Craniata
Class
Actinopterygii
Order
Cypriniformes
Family
Cyprinidae
Genus
Ctenopharyngodon
NatureServe
Classification
Informal Taxonomy
Animals, Vertebrates - Fishes - Bony Fishes - Minnows and Carps
Formal Taxonomy
Animalia - Craniata - Actinopterygii - Cypriniformes - Cyprinidae - Ctenopharyngodon
Ecology and Life History
Habitat Type Description
Freshwater
Migration
true - false - false
Non-migrant
true
Locally Migrant
false
Food Comments
Eats mainly vegetation. Young first feed on plankton, then switch to macrophytes. Adults seek fibrous plants. May also eat invertebrates and small fishes, especially in devegetated ponds. Intensive feeding occurs only when temeprature at least 20 C.
Reproduction Comments
May spawn in spring and summer. Eggs hatch in 16-60 hours at 17-30 C. Sexually mature in 4-5 years in temperate areas. May live 15-20 years or more.
Ecology Comments
Strong schooling tendency. May cause increase in turbidity and alkalinity in waters where introduced; may compete with and prey upon native and exotic fishes (Sublette et al. 1990). In Arizona, biomass of largemouth bass increased in direct proportion to biomass of grass carp, perhaps because removal of vegetation by carp increased vulnerability of forage fishes to bass predation (see Sublette et al. 1990).
Length
125
Conservation Status
NatureServe Global Status Rank
G5
Global Status Last Reviewed
1996-09-13
Global Status Last Changed
1996-09-13
Distribution
Conservation Status Map
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Global Range
Native to Amur basin and flatland rivers of eastern Asia. Introduced in many localities in United States for control of aquatic vegetation. Widespread and increasing in lower and middle Mississippi Valley, spotty elsewhere. Natural reproduction has been recorded in the Mississippi, Missouri, Trinity (Texas), Red, and Washita (Oklahoma) rivers (Hargrave and Gido 2004).