Silver carp: description of fish, habitat, species that eats

Silver carp is a fish that inhabits fresh water bodies and belongs to the carp family. It is also called silver carp. The diet of the silver carp consists of small living creatures that live in the water column. To do this, the fish has a special filtering apparatus to separate food from water.

Silver carp: description

This fish can grow to an impressive size, reaching a length of about one and a half meters with a weight of up to 30 kg. There is evidence that specimens weighing up to 50 kg were caught. The silver carp leads a flocking lifestyle. Due to its large size and nutritional value, the fish has become a favorite object for fishing, although it is not so easy to catch a silver carp, and even more so, pull it out of the water. To do this, you need to have certain skills and reliable durable tackle.

Fish appearance

The lateral parts of the body are painted silver, but the belly can be pure white or with a silvery sheen. The head of the fish is quite large, which is why it got its name – silver carp. The mouth is toothless and visually as if inverted, and the eyes are placed far enough on the head and look, as it were, down.

The characteristic difference of the silver carp from other types of fish lies in the wide structure of the forehead, as well as the mouth. The head is so large that it takes up a fifth of the size of the entire body. Due to the fact that the eyes are set low, the forehead visually looks even wider.

In silver carp, instead of teeth, a filtering apparatus is located in the mouth, in the form of fused gills, similar to a sponge. Thanks to this opportunity, the silver carp feeds on plankton, which is the main food source for the silver carp. Silver carp is specially grown in artificial conditions to clean the reservoir. The body of a silver carp can be long and large. Despite this, his body is covered with fairly small scales.

Behavior and lifestyle

Silver carp should be sought in the middle and upper layers of water. This fish can live in fairly large rivers, artificial ponds, lakes, backwaters, as well as artificial reservoirs of industrial enterprises, such as thermal power plants. The silver carp is able to live in various conditions, both in stagnant and running water. As a rule, he chooses the best reservoirs for him with warm water and a moderate current. But the silver carp avoids the fast current. The favorite place of this fish is shallows with a sandy, rocky or muddy bottom, where there is a slight current. She also feels good in artificial reservoirs, where there is a lot of nutritious plankton.

Interesting to know! When the water temperature drops to +8 degrees, the fish begins to actively fatten fat. With the onset of winter, the silver carp falls into a state of suspended animation, while being at the bottom of the deepest places in the reservoir.

With the advent of warming, plankton appears in the water. During this period, the fish comes out of hibernation and goes to migrate around the reservoir in search of food. First of all, he examines deep places, and only when the water warms up to +24 degrees, the fish rises closer to the surface of the water.

Hungry after hibernation, the silver carp can become easy prey for the angler, as he is ready to swallow any nozzle on the hook. According to experienced anglers, at the end of May, silver carp is caught even on pieces of foam rubber or on a cigarette filter.

Lifespan

The silver carp is able to live for about 20 years if comfortable living conditions contribute to this: warm water and enough food. In conditions when fish are bred in artificial reservoirs for sale, fish are caught at the age of 3, although the larger the silver carp, the tastier, more nutritious and fatter its meat.

Weight carp

There are only 3 types of silver carp, for example:

• Silver carp white. That is why it is called white, since it has lighter tones compared to other species. Differs in the average size of the body. The head is quite large and occupies up to 17 percent of the body. The white silver carp feeds only on phytoplankton, that is, objects of plant origin.
• bighead carp motley differs by a slightly larger head and grows to somewhat larger sizes. The weight of the head can be up to 50% of the total body weight. The bighead carp is not so picky in food, so the basis of its diet is both phytoplankton and bioplankton, that is, objects of animal origin.
• Silver carp hybrid. This species is the result of the work of breeders. This species is distinguished by all the advantages inherent in the first two species. In addition, this type of fish is not so thermophilic and survives in more extreme conditions. It grows to an impressive size, while its head, like that of a white silver carp, is not too large.

It should be noted that the species differ not only in appearance, but also in taste, as they eat various food items.

Range, habitats

The silver carp was first bred in 1970 in the United States, after which it was found in some reservoirs of the Central and South of the United States. Mostly silver carp lives and breeds in the Mississippi River basin. He feels great in many large rivers of East Asia. Currently, silver carp is found in the waters of the Pacific Ocean, and its habitat here is very extensive: from China to the Far East, including Vietnam. This fish is distributed almost all over the world, including Europe, Asia, America, Mexico, Africa, etc.

Representatives of silver carp fish were first brought to Arkansas by one of the fish farmers in 1973. This was necessary in order to control the level of plankton in water bodies. In addition, silver carp has already been actively used as an object of nutritional value for humans.

Already after 8 years, the silver carp was found in the natural reservoirs of Arkansas, as it managed to go beyond the limits of aquaculture facilities. Thereafter, the silver carp began to spread rapidly across the US and was soon attested to in 12 states.

In 2003, the silver carp was sighted in Iowa, in the Des Moines Basin, and in the Mississippi and Missouri rivers. After that, he began to explore the reservoirs of Europe.

Silver carp diet

The white carp prefers exclusively plant food, in the form of phytoplankton. His favorite food is blue-green algae, which appear in water bodies with the onset of heat. The silver carp just helps to fight these algae, which have a negative impact on the life of living beings by absorbing oxygen.

It is important to know! The silver carp eats differently, depending on age and species. It is mainly plant food, although other species are able to eat animal objects as well.

The bighead carp, for example, feeds on both phytoplankton and bioplankton, which is why it gains weight and grows much faster than the silver carp.

Thanks to the work of scientists, it was possible to bring out a hybrid species of silver carp. As a result of crossing 2 species, it was possible to obtain a species that absorbed all the advantages of these species.

The result is a fish whose head is not so large in relation to the size of the whole body, and this fish grows in length more than the silver carp. The result was the optimal percentage ratio of the size of the head to the size of the body. In addition, a hybrid specimen, in addition to phytoplankton, does not refuse all kinds of small invertebrates and crustaceans, which allows it to quickly gain commercial weight.

The silver carp is active in conditions of real heat, when other fish species try to hide or go to the depth if the water temperature is too high. Therefore, it is better to catch silver carp in calm and well-heated water, when this fish feeds quite actively and rises closer to the surface of the reservoir.

Breeding process

When the fish reaches 3 or 5 years of age, depending on the habitat, silver carps are ready for spawning. Since silver carp is a heat-loving fish, mating games begin in June, when the water has already warmed up to at least +18 degrees. In colder conditions, eggs develop very poorly and may die. In this regard, the fish are looking for places as warm as possible.

The silver carp is considered a very prolific fish, since the female, depending on her size, can lay from half a million to one million eggs. The female lays them in algae, reliably masking them from natural enemies. A day later, silver carp fry appear from the eggs, up to 5,5 millimeters long. After another 4 days, the fry begin to search for food, since by this time they have already formed an apparatus for filtering food objects. The variegated and hybrid species switch to feeding on other food items after a month, while the white species continues to feed on phytoplankton.

Natural enemies

The silver carp has not so many enemies, although the silver carp itself can become a serious problem for the reservoir and its underwater inhabitants. On the one hand, this fish is absolutely harmless, but it actively eats phytoplankton, which is so necessary for the initial stage of development of many fish fry. Silver carp love to jump high out of the water, which can be a serious threat to boat anglers.

Interesting fact! The number of silver carp in the natural environment, especially in our places, is quite small, due to the fact that it is an object of fishing. Therefore, the main number of this fish is on special farms for growing silver carp.

The silver carp reacts in a special way to significant noises. If he hears the sound of the engine of a boat passing by, he can jump high out of the water, falling into the boat.

Silver carp can carry various diseases, while they can be transmitted not only to humans, but also to other types of fish.

Vision status

At present, we can safely say that there is practically no purebred silver carp left. But species are grown that are more resistant to extreme living conditions.

As for America, they are fighting precisely with these species, giving preference to the silver carp. At the same time, it should be noted that none of the species is listed in the Red Book, since there is no exact data on the number of different species.

Fishing value

Currently, many fish farms are breeding silver carp. And recently, paid fishing has begun to actively develop, where this fish is also grown on paid reservoirs. She feels great next to other types of fish, growing to an impressive size, and also helps to keep the reservoir clean, acting as a kind of orderly. This approach translates into significant profits, since the presence of silver carp in a stocked pond increases the profitability of the fish industry by almost 2 times.

Silver carp meat is quite healthy, although in terms of taste it is inferior to grass carp meat. Silver carp is not contraindicated even in conditions of a sparing diet, when the gastrointestinal tract suffers from various ailments. Silver carp meat contains such polyunsaturated fatty acids as Omega-3 and Omega-6, which makes silver carp meat the most valuable. Such components have a positive effect on the work of the human cardiovascular system, stimulate the protective functions of the body, maintain the natural beauty and youth of the body, pushing back old age. The presence of essential vitamins and minerals contributes to the secretion of hemoglobin, which increases the antioxidant effect on the body. Therefore, silver carp meat must be eaten by everyone in order to maintain the level of nutrients in the body.

Silver carp is a unique product, especially for those who have gained excess weight and want to lose those extra pounds. When fish meat is subjected to heat treatment, it loses some of its beneficial components. 100 grams of silver carp meat contains only 78 calories, which makes it an indispensable product for dietary nutrition. There is a lot of protein in silver carp meat, which equates this fish with well-known seafood. Silver carp dishes are recommended for people suffering from diabetes.

It is important to know! The silver carp can be a carrier of various parasites that cause metagonimiasis. These parasites are worm-like with tiny spines, up to 1 mm long. They can easily settle in the human intestine.

As a result of infection with such parasites, the human intestine can lose its protective coating, which leads to severe pain in the abdomen, diarrhea, nausea and vomiting. In this case, the intervention of a doctor is necessary, otherwise problems with the intestines can continue for a whole year.