Wild Carp

[JerryC]

As I understand it. Eventually the king carp strain will eventually over a period of generations; will resort back to feral common carp, as this is the dominant gene.
I tend to class all British wild-carp as feral, as I doubt there are any true bloodline wild-carp in existence in this country now. The only place I know of with true wild carp is the Danube.

Regrettably this is probably true, too many these days refer to feral carp as wildies...................

[Kingfisher]

As I understand it. Eventually the king carp strain will eventually over a period of generations; will resort back to feral common carp, as this is the dominant gene.
I tend to class all British wild-carp as feral, as I doubt there are any true bloodline wild-carp in existence in this country now. The only place I know of with true wild carp is the Danube.

Regrettably this is probably true, too many these days refer to feral carp as wildies...................

Psst JerryC

Have a look here....look for Ancient Carp in the list.

http://www.rhayaderangling.co.uk/news.php

[JerryC]

As I understand it. Eventually the king carp strain will eventually over a period of generations; will resort back to feral common carp, as this is the dominant gene.
I tend to class all British wild-carp as feral, as I doubt there are any true bloodline wild-carp in existence in this country now. The only place I know of with true wild carp is the Danube.

Regrettably this is probably true, too many these days refer to feral carp as wildies...................

Psst JerryC

Have a look here....look for Ancient Carp in the list.

http://www.rhayaderangling.co.uk/news.php

Thanks for the link Kingfisher - that's good to know.

[Gary Bills]

To be honest, looking at old images, illustrations and accounts etc, I think "the English Wildie" is almost impossible to define these days, because there are few "constants" throughout history, from what I can see. I've given my ideas, for what they are worth, on the "Gnome".
I don't believe that kings will absolutely revert to a thin feral form, given enough food, because their shape will surely be informed by their gene pool.
I don't believe the Redmire commons will ever look like ferals, for the same reason.
In the end, we all know what we mean by the term "Old English Common", and that's what we should be trying to preserve?
I think some markers could be -
1. A chub-like shape, but not always with a rounded Sazan-type head.
2. A long narrow tail root, - longer and more narrow than with kings.
3. A yellow tone to the underside of the tail root.
4. Short barbules.
5. A dorsal that has a long straight or gently sloping run from the main front spine, before merging with the main dorsal sweep.
6. Scale colour can be dark, metallic gold or - more unusually and more ancient, I think, quite silvery - as BB described the "monkish commons" of Hunstrete.

I think this subject's a minefield, however - unless we look at just celebrating old-looking varieties, if and when we can find 'em.

[Carp Artist]

To be honest, looking at old images, illustrations and accounts etc, I think "the English Wildie" is almost impossible to define these days, because there are few "constants" throughout history, from what I can see. I've given my ideas, for what they are worth, on the "Gnome".
I don't believe that kings will absolutely revert to a thin feral form, given enough food, because their shape will surely be informed by their gene pool.
I don't believe the Redmire commons will ever look like ferals, for the same reason.
In the end, we all know what we mean by the term "Old English Common", and that's what we should be trying to preserve?
I think some markers could be -
1. A chub-like shape, but not always with a rounded Sazan-type head.
2. A long narrow tail root, - longer and more narrow than with kings.
3. A yellow tone to the underside of the tail root.
4. Short barbules.
5. A dorsal that has a long straight or gently sloping run from the main front spine, before merging with the main dorsal sweep.
6. Scale colour can be dark, metallic gold or - more unusually and more ancient, I think, quite silvery - as BB described the "monkish commons" of Hunstrete.

I think this subject's a minefield, however - unless we look at just celebrating old-looking varieties, if and when we can find 'em.

Yes I agree with this FB Also "BB"s description of "monkish commons" fits nicely

[Estaban]

I have a bit of catching up to do on this subject, the majority of carp here were initially stocked in the mid to late 1800's but I'm not sure as to where the stock was brought in from (started researching the subject, very interesting) and there is a good deal of "bait bucket" stocking that happens as well.
I personally think the long lean "wild" or "feral" is a beautiful fish, and very much worth preserving.

[Carp Artist]

Sounds like an interesting quest Estaban, good luck with your research and keep us updated.

[Estaban]

Thanks....will do

[GarryProcter]

Almost all the carp I caught while I was living in the US were long, lean commons like this (but the others were smaller!):

I always assumed that they were 'feral', as I doubted there had been any imported stockings for a very long time. But that was simply an assumption. I'll be interested in what you find out Estaban.

[Kingfisher]

Cracking fish that Garry.

Estaban, have a look on that link posted on the wild carp trust page of Facebook. I'm sure there's something on there about fish being brought from Germany to USA in the 1900's. They were originally from the Danube and stocked into German ponds.