7 - The Common Carp and Chinese Carps

We studied daily periodicity, taxonomic composition and annual variation of fish larvae abundance from a survey of the Zhaoqing section of the Pearl River over a 3-year period, 2006–2008, and collected 52 species, in eight families and 16 orders. The fish larval samples were numerically dominated by six species, Barbel Chub (Squaliobarbus curriculus) 33.1%, Black Guangdong Bream (Megalobrama hoffmanni) 20.6%, Yellowfin (Xenocypris argentea) 15.4%, Mud Carp (Cirrhina molitorella) 10%, Common Sawbelly (Hemiculter leucisculus) 4.3%, and Freshwater Bream (Parabramis pekinensis) 3.1%. These six species accounted for 86.5% of total numbers. Black Carp (Mylopharyngodon piceus), Grass Carp (Ctenopharyngodon idellus), Silver Carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix) and Bighead Carp (Aristichthys nobilis) are four of the most economically important fish species in China, and accounted for approximately 4.6% of the total. When compared with historical records from 1931, there are obvious changes in the fish larvae community. Chinese Sturgeon (Acipenser sinensis), Seasonal Shad (Macrura reevesi) and Long Spiky-head Carp (Luciobrama macrocephalus) populations have disappeared and there are also decreases in several other economically important fish populations. We observed a delay in spawning time of Black Carp, Grass Carp, Silver Carp and Bighead Carp, which may be the result of the hydrological regime change in the Pearl River. We used canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) and cross-covariance function (CCF) to analyze the relationship between fish larvae and environmental variables. Our results clearly show that discharge affects the majority of fish larvae, with the various species having different responses. Larval abundances of 15 species such as Black Carp, Grass Carp, Silver Carp, Bighead Carp, Mud Carp and Black Guangdong Bream are significantly and positively related to the discharge. Other species such as Chinese Noodlefish (Leucosoma chinensis) and Rhinogobius olivaceus are negatively related to the discharge. Abundances of larval Mosquitofish (Gambusia affinis), Common Carp (Cyprinus carpio) and Eleotris oxycephala were not related to the discharge. As most economic fish species are affected by discharge, we also conclude that changes of hydrological regime, mainly caused by river damming, will result in the decline of fisheries resources in the Pearl River. The findings of this study have important implications for our ability to model the responses of fish larvae to environmental flows for the purpose of river regulation.

Near infrared reflectance spectroscopy was used to discriminate different species of freshwater fish samples. Samples from seven freshwater fish species of the family Cyprinidae (black carp ( Mylopharyngodon piceus), grass carp ( Ctenopharyngodon idellus), silver carp ( Hypophthalmichthys molitrix), bighead carp ( Aristichthys nobilis), common carp ( Cyprinus carpio), crucian ( Carassius auratus), and bream ( Parabramis pekinensis)) were scanned by near infrared reflectance spectroscopy from 1000 nm to 1799 nm. Linear discriminant analysis models were built for the classification of species. We inspected the effect of partial least square, principal component analysis, competitive adaptive reweighted sampling, and fast Fourier transform on linear discriminant analysis. The results showed that the dimension reduction methods worked very well for this example. Linear discriminant analysis models which were combined with principal component analysis and fast Fourier transform could classify accurately all the samples under multiplicative scatter correction pre-processing. According to the loadings in principal component analysis, spectra wavelengths 1000, 1001, 1154, 1208, 1284, 1288, 1497, 1665, and 1770 nm were selected as effective wavelengths in linear discriminant analysis. The discriminant analysis was simplified by using effective wavelengths as independent variables in a linear discriminant analysis model. This study indicated that linear discriminant analysis combined with near infrared reflectance spectroscopy could be an effective strategy for the classification of freshwater fish species.

To better understand differential sensitivities among fish species to the piscicidal compound Antimycin-A (ANT-A), we hypothesized that variations in amino acids at the ANT-A binding site may reflect toxicity differences. Protein sequences for six motifs comprising the ANT-A binding site were obtained and compared for invasive carp species (N = 515) and seven non-target species (N = 277); a consensus was delineated from each species. The carp species, Common Carp (Cyprinus carpio), Silver Carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix), Bighead Carp (Hypophthalmichthys nobilis), Grass Carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella), and Black Carp (Mylopharyngodon piceus), showed the same amino acids at the site; thus, it was termed the carp consensus motif sequence (CCM). Channel Catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) showed the most amino acid polymorphisms, with three motifs 96–100% different from CCM. Within a species, Bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus) and Fathead Minnow (Pimephales promelas) variation per motif was most dissimilar (46.7% and 21.6%, respectively). Organismal mortality data from the literature indicated Yellow Perch (Perca flavescens), Walleye (Sander vitreus), and American Gizzard Shad (Dorosoma cepedianum) to be most sensitive to the piscicide, Catfish least sensitive, and all others intermediate. The protein sequence variations of the binding site appeared to be in accord with organismal sensitivity categories when they differed from the CCM; the motifs in Gizzard Shad and Walleye were the same as in CCM. The physical/chemical nature of ANT-A is important to consider in organismal response comparisons. This cellular approach of studying ANT-A binding at its target enzyme is a non-destructive way to predict piscicidal efficacy of ANT-A against fishes of interest, informs management decisions in control efforts for invasives, and can be used to forecast effects on sympatric species.

<em>Abstract</em>.—Numerous natural resource agency and media reports have alleged that Asian carps were introduced into the wild through escapes from commercial fish farms. This chapter traces the chronology associated with importations of Asian carps to North America and discusses the likeliest pathways of their introduction to the wild. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service first imported an Asian carp species, grass carp <em>Ctenopharyngodon idella</em>, in 1963. Since then, state and federal agencies, universities, and private fish farmers have interacted to import Asian carps, to develop production technologies, and to promote their use in both public and private sectors in a number of different states. These importations and stocking, whether in confinement or, in the case of the grass carp, sometimes in open waters, were purposeful and legal. Asian carps were introduced to take advantage of their unique food preferences (planktivory by silver carp <em>Hypophthalmichthys molitrix </em>and bighead carp <em>H. nobilis</em>, herbivory by grass carp, and molluscivory by black carp <em>Mylopharyngodon piceus</em>). The first known accidental release of diploid grass carp was in 1966 by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Stuttgart, Arkansas. Other early reports of grass carp in the wild were from waters in Alabama, Georgia, and Florida. Grass carp were reported from the wild in 1970, 2 years before the first private hatchery received grass carp. By 1972, grass carp had been stocked in open water systems in 16 different states. Silver carp and bighead carp were first imported purposely by a commercial fish producer in Arkansas in 1973. All silver and bighead carps were transferred to the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission by March 1974 where they first successfully spawned silver carp and bighead carp later that year. The first report of silver carp in the wild was in Arizona in 1972, although strong evidence suggests that this may have been a misidentification, followed by reports in Arkansas in the wild in 1975. The Arkansas report occurred 2 years before bighead carp and silver carp were returned to private hatcheries for commercial production. By 1977, silver carp and bighead carp had been introduced to Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Illinois, and Tennessee. Research and stockings of silver carp and bighead carp were conducted by at least six state and federal agencies and three universities in seven states in the 1970s and 1980s. Public-sector agencies, which were successful in encouraging development and use of Asian carps that today are in commercial trade, are the likeliest pathways for the earliest escapes of grass carp, silver carp, and bighead carp.

Characterization of carp gonadotropins: Structure, annual profile, and carp and zebrafish pituitary topographic organization

An experiment was conducted in 12 earthen ponds of 200 m2 at Kathar VDC, Chitwan, Nepal for 270 days to analyze the productivity and nutrient budget in some carp based polyculture systems. The experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design with four treatments in triplicate each: a) Carps only or control (7000 fish/ha) (T1); b) Carps (7000/ha) + tilapia (3000/ha) (T2); c) Carps (7000/ha) + tilapia (3000/ha) + sahar (500/ha) (T3); and d) Carps (7000/ha) + tilapia (3000/ha) + sahar (1000/ha) (T4). Silver carp (Hypophthalmich­thys molitrix), bighead carp (Aristichthys nobilis), common carp (Cyprinus carpio), grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella), rohu (Labeo rohita) and mrigal (Cir­rhinus mrigala) of mean stocking size 3.0, 4.2, 10.0, 18.8, 10.5, 2.2 g, respectively were stocked in all ponds at the ratio of 4:2:1:1:1:1. The mean stocking size of Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) and sahar (Tor putitora) were 9.7 and 3.4 g, respectively. The ponds were fertilized weekly with urea and di-ammonium phosphate @ 4 g N and 1 g P/m2/day. Fish were fed with locally made pellet feed (20% CP) once in an alternate day at @ 2% body weight. At harvest, the extrapolated fish yield ranged from 1.5 to 1.7 t/ha/year in different treatments, without significant differences among treatments (P>0.05). Inclusion of sahar in Nile tilapia ponds decreased recruits by 63 to 72%. There were no significant differences in water quality parameters among treatments, except dissolved oxygen concentration, which was significantly lower in T1 and T3 than T2 and T4 (p<0.05). Both nitrogen and phosphorous were gained from fish species and lost from soil and water. There were no significant differences in nitrogen and phosphorous contents of all inputs and outputs among treatments. The unaccounted nitrogen and phosphorous loss ranged from 9.8-17.1% and 51.2-64.4%, respectively. The nitrogen and phosphorous required for producing 1 kg fish ranged from 337.5-375.9 g and 130.3-150.9 g, without significant difference among treatments. The nitrogen and phosphorous discharged for producing 1 kg fish ranged from 1.59-4.35 g and 1.6-9.3 g, respectively.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/on.v11i2.9535 Our Nature 2013, 11(2): 116-125

An investigation was conducted during the period from March to December 2009 to investigate the induced spawning practices in 22 hatcheries of 6 Upazilas of Rajshahi District of Bangladesh. It was observed that, 6 native fish species viz. rui (Labeo rohita), catla (Catla catla), mrigal (Cirrhina mrigala), calibaush (Labeo calbasu), bata (Labeo bata), gonia (Labeo gonius) and six exotic fish species such as silver carp (Hypophthalmichthys moltrix), bighead carp (Aristichthys nobilis), grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella), common carp (Cyprinus carpio), Thai pangus (Pangasius sutchi), rajputi (Puntius gonionotus) were used in the surveyed hatcheries for induced spawning purpose. The average length limit was 41.70±13.02 to 72.81±25.98 cm, average age limit was 1.96±0.75 to 3.08±0.90 years and average weight limit was 1.83±0.79 to 7.54±3.92 kg of the brood fish. Two types of hormone injections like PG (pituitary gland) and HCG (human chorionic gonadotropin) were used for induced spawning. The rate of 1st doses of injections of PG were from 1 to 4 mg/kg and HCG from 150 to 500 IU/kg and the rate of 2nd doses of injections of PG for native and exotic species were from 4 to 8 mg/kg and 4 to 10 mg/kg respectively. The incubation period and hatching rate in different fish species varied from 10 to 72 hours and 55% to 80%, respectively. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/jles.v6i0.9723 JLES 2011 6: 65-68

Alternative species for traditional carp polyculture in southern South America: Initial growing period

The material for this report was the results of bacteriological examination of fish of various species (silver carp (Carassius gibelio); silver carp (Hypophthalmichthys nobilis); white cupid (Ctenopharyngodon idella); common carp (Cyprinus carpio); rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), fry of sturgeon of Lena (Acipenser baeri) and sterlet (Acipenser ruthenus)) and various age groups in 2016–2018. in 7 fish farms in Belarus. As a result of research, 21 species of bacteria have been registered in introduced fish species in pond farms that are potential causative agents of bacterial diseases of introduced fish. Two types of bacteria – Shewanella putrefaciens and Aeromonas hydrophila – are invasive and harm the fish industry. Studies have shown seasonal changes in the frequency of occurrence of Sh. putrefaciens and A. hydrophila in introduced fish. During January-March, the infection of fish with A. hydrophila bacteria was not high, increasing sharply in April-May. In June-July, a decrease is observed, and in August is a sharp decrease in the infection of the internal organs and blood of fish with aeromonads. Bacteria Sh. putrefaciens were found in fish much less frequently than A. hydrophila, however, some seasonal dependence in the change in the frequency of its occurrence in introduced species is observed. The peak of occurrence is in June. The maximum values of the frequency of occurrence of pathogens of bacterial infections were noted for A. hydrophila in April (80.0%), for Sh. putrefaciens – in June (33.0%). It should be noted that the active consumption of mixed fodder and natural feed by the fish leads to the restoration of the body’s immune status after winter.

By using the peroxidase-antiperoxidase (PAP) immunohistochemical technique, 4 kinds of antisera raised against mammalian hormones were used for immunohistochemical identification and localization of endocrine cells in the gut of grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idellus), black carp (Mylopharyngodon piceus), common carp (Cyprinus carpio), and culter fish (Erythroculter ilishaeformis). Positive reactions of glucagon-immunoreactive endocrine cells were proved in the whole gut of grass carp (C. idellus). There were only weak positive reactions in the foregut of common carp (C. carpio) and black carp (M. piceus). No positive reactions could be found in the gut of culter fish (E. ilishaeformis). However, only negative reactions were obtained with antisera against pepsinogen, prochymosin and neuron specific erolase in the gut of the 4 cyprinids. In the present paper, the distribution, density and morphological characteristics of glucagon-immunoreactive endocrine cells in different segments of the gut of grass carp (C. piceus) were discribed in detail. The possible physiological functions of the glucagon enter oendocrine cells were discussed and compared with those of glucagon endocrine cells in the gastrointestinal tract of herbivorous mammals.  

In the artificial hybridization between female grass carp(Ctenopharyngodon idellus)and male common carp(Cyprinus carpio), no hybrid embryos survived to hatching except a few gynogenetic grass carp and androgenetic common carp.Comparisons of karyotype and embryonic development between the hybrid and its parents(grass carp and common carp)showed that the chromosome number of hybrid embryos varied considerably, usually ranging from 24 to 73. Most chromosomes of common carp were gradually lost and aneuploid appeared in almost all the hybrid embryonic cells. A few embryos developed by means of gynogenesis or androgenesis. The difference in the rate of embryonic development between grass carp and common carp was distinct, and the characters of hybrid embryonic development were much closer to those of grass carp. Asynchronus development between plasma and male nucleus may be the cause for the continuous loss of chromosomes in the hybrid cells.  

Diversity of phytophilous macroinvertebrates in polycultures of semi-intensively managed fishponds

Deep learning-based appearance features extraction for automated carp species identification

Effects of the filter feeder silver carp and the bottom feeders mrigal and common carp on small indigenous fish species (SIS) and pond ecology

Development of an indirect ELISA for detection of the adaptive immune response of black carp (Mylopharyngodon piceus)