Common carp are a medium-sized fish that range in color from green and brown to yellow and silver. Their scales are large and thick, and they have a toothed spine on the dorsal fin. The males will have a larger ventral fin than the females. 

Carp can reach a length of 12-25 inches, and usually weigh 8-10 pounds, but can be much larger and even grow to be 70+ pounds!

Common carp are endemic to Europe, but have been introduced everywhere except for the North and South Pole and northern Asia. 

Common carp will thrive in most aquatic habitats, which is why they are so invasive. They prefer large, slow-moving bodies of water such as freshwater lakes with soft sediments.

Common carp are benthic omnivores, which means that they will eat prey from the floor of aquatic environments. The soft sediments in their preferred habits provide a variety of invertebrates and aquatic plant species that make up their diet.

Carp eat by using their mouths to suck up mud from the bottom of the floor, spit it back out into the water, and then eat the plant and animal particles that are suspended in the water.

In the warmer weather months, or all year in the tropics, female carp will lay about 30,000 eggs in the water among aquatic plants. The male carp will come along and externally fertilize the eggs which are stuck to the plants or other aquatic features.

Depending on the temperature, the carp eggs will only take about 3-4 days to hatch. After hatching, the mother does not provide any care for the babies.

Common carp are an important fish for aquaculture economics and have even been recorded to be farmed fish in the Roman times.

China is the world’s largest producer of carp, as they are accountable for 70% of carp production.

Common carp have been recorded to live for decades, and grow to monstrous sizes, including one weighing in at 91 pounds caught in France.