Grass carp [Ctenopharyngodon idella] is naturally inhabitant in China and Eastern Siberia specially Amur river system. In 1966 and 1979, this carp is introduced to Bangladesh from Hong Kong and Japan orderly for weed control and aquaculture purpose (Rahman, 2005).
According to Talwar and Jhingran (1991), this fish breeds during monsoon months in the flowing waters of its natural habitat, the rivers but does not spawn naturally in the static waters of ponds and tanks. The artificial breeding technique of this carp is the same as that for major carp.
Normally it feeds in aquatic weeds and terrestrial grass and in the absence of plants may even feed on fish fry. Newly hatched ones feed on zooplankton including mosquito larvae. It has a very fast growth rate and maturity and breeding habits are similar to that of silver carp (Santhanam et al., 1999). Maximum recorded total length 150 cm and weight 45 kg (Fishbase, 2009). At the age of 3 years the individual fish can attain a weight of upto 7 kg (Yadav, 1999).
References:
- Fishbase, 2009. Species summary of Ctenopharyngodon idella. Downloaded from http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/speciesSummary.php?ID=79&genusname=Ctenopharyngodon&speciesname=idella&lang=English on dated 04 August 2009.
- Rahman AKA, 2005. Freshwater Fishes of Bangladesh (2nd ed.). Zoological Society of Bangladesh, Dhaka, Bangladesh. xviii+394 pp.
- Santhanam R, Sukumaran N and Natarajan P, 1999. A Manual of Freshwater Aquaculture. Oxford & IBH Publishing Co. Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi, India. 193pp.
- Talwar PK and Jhingran AG, 1991. Inland Fishes of India and Adjacent Countries (Vol. 1 and 2). Oxford & IBH Publishing Co. Pvt. Ltd., India. 1158pp.
- Yadav BN, 1999. Fish and Fisheries (2nd ed.). Daya Publishing House, Delhi-110035, India. 366pp.
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