Silver carp: characteristics, feeding, breeding and complete information

Silver carp is a type of freshwater carp. This is a variety of Asian carp that grows in Eastern Siberia and China.

It is also called flying carp, mainly due to his ability to leap out of water when frightened, and he can leap up to 10 feet high. It has long been cultivated in China, but is endangered in its natural habitat.

Today, this fish is farmed around the world in aquaculture, producing more silver carp by weight than any other species of fish other than grass carp.

Usually this fish is grown commercially in polyculture with other Asian cyprinid fish. They are sometimes cultured with katla and other types of fish.

The silver carp is currently classified as critically endangered in its native range (because its natural habitat and productive behavior is affected by dam construction, overfishing, and pollution).

But it is highly available in some other countries. The population decline appears to have been particularly severe in the Chinese parts of the range.

Silver carp were brought to North America in the 1970s to control algal growth in aquaculture and urban sewage treatment plants.

But shortly after importation, they escaped from captivity. And they are not considered highly invasive species. Read more information about silver carp in the following table.

Characteristics of silver carp

The silver carp is a deep-bodied, laterally compressed fish. As their name suggests, they are very silvery when young. As they age, their color changes from greenish on the back to silver on the belly.

Their head and opercula are scaleless, but the rest of their body is covered with very small scales.

They have big mouths and no teeth. Rather, they have pharyngeal teeth. The eyes of the silver carp are located far forward along the midline of the body and are slightly lowered.

Silver carp is often confused with silver carp. But silver carp differs from silver carp in both behavior and diet.

Bighead carp do not jump out of the water when startled. Pigheads are also filter feeders, but they filter larger particles than silver carp and generally consume a higher proportion of zooplankton in their diet.

But silver carp consume more phytoplankton. Compared to largeheads, silver carp have a smaller head, an upturned mouth without teeth, a keel that extends forward past the base of the pelvic fin, no dark spots characteristic of largeheads, and highly branched gill rakers.

The average length of a silver carp is 60-100cm, but large fish can reach 140cm in length. A large fish can weigh around 50 kg. Photos and information from Wikipedia.

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Silver carp are filter feeders and have a specialized feeder capable of filtering fine particles.

The gill rakers coalesce into a filter sponge, and the supragillary organ secretes mucus to help trap small particles.

Like all species of Hypophthalmichthys, the silver carp does not have a stomach. They feed mainly on phytoplankton, but also consume zooplankton and detritus.

Mainly due to their habit of eating plankton, they are sometimes used to monitor water quality (especially to control toxic blue-green algae).

reproduction

In the silver carp’s natural range, they migrate upstream to spawn. The eggs and larvae then swim downstream and the juveniles hatch in the flood zone.

The larvae and small juveniles feed on zooplankton. And they switch to phytoplankton when they reach a certain size. Silver carp can tolerate salinity up to 12 ppt and low dissolved oxygen (3 mg/litter).

But they tend to be somewhat sensitive to low oxygen conditions. They usually reach maturity when they are 4 to 8 years old, but in some places they are noted to reach maturity as early as 2 years old.

Their spawning requires a current to stay suspended, with a maximum spawning river length estimated at 100 km and a current speed of 70 cm/s. Although they can be bred artificially. And in large commercial hatcheries, reproduction usually occurs artificially.

Advantages

Silver carp are commercially farmed primarily for food. But in some places they are also grown for sport fishing.

Special Notes

Silver carp is a very important species for aquaculture. They are very popular in some countries as food. They are long-lived, can live up to 20 years.

Spawning takes place at temperatures above 18°C ​​and on average a female can lay up to 5 million eggs per year. However, check out the complete silver carp breed profile in the table below.

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