Grass Carp
Ctenopharyngodon idella
- Class
- Ray-finned fish
- Rarity
- Common
- Observations
- 1,808
- Most observed in
- 🇺🇸 United States
- Conservation
- Least Concern
Description
The grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella) is a species of large herbivorous freshwater fish in the family Cyprinidae, native to the Pacific Far East, with a native range stretching from northern Vietnam to the Amur River on the Sino-Russian border. This Asian carp is the only species of the genus Ctenopharyngodon. Grass carp are resident fish of large turbid rivers and associated floodplain lakes/wetlands with a wide range of temperature tolerance, and spawn at temperatures of 20 to 30 °C (68 to 86 °F). It has been cultivated as a food fish in China for centuries, being known as one of the "Four Great Domestic Fish" (Chinese: 四大家鱼), but was later introduced to Europe and the United States for aquatic weed control, becoming the fish species with the largest reported farmed production globally, over five million tonnes per year.
Summary adapted from the Wikipedia article “Grass carp”.