Common Carp

A freshwater fish, Cyprinus carpio, also called the European or Eurasian carp, native to eutrophic waters across Europe and Asia and one of the world's oldest farmed fish. Carp farming dates back to Roman times, when the fish were kept in specially built ponds, and medieval European monks spread the practice of carp culture between the 13th and 16th centuries; selective breeding during that period produced variants such as mirror carp and leather carp, while a separate ornamental form, the koi, was developed in Japan starting in the 1820s. The common carp is farmed today chiefly as a food fish, with China alone producing roughly three million tonnes a year, about 14 percent of all farmed freshwater fish worldwide, and it is also fished recreationally as a popular sport fish in Europe. Where it has been introduced outside its native range it is often considered an invasive species that disrupts native ecosystems, so in much of North America it is regarded as a pest to be controlled rather than a resource to be farmed.