Pretty carp

[Jigman13]

The mother in law fish

[saxmatt]

This is a mirror koi. Carp, koi and goldfish can all breed with each other and you get some cool looking hybrids like this. Awesome catch and beautiful fish!

[bigfishy]

Nice catch!! but what about the herpes on its side? is that normal?

[saxmatt]

Originally Posted by bigfishy

Nice catch!! but what about the herpes on its side? is that normal?

It doesn't have herpes, it has orange blotches because it's part koi and weird looking scales because it's part mirror carp. Looks like a white and orange koi spawned with a linear mirror.

[thmyorke1]

Originally Posted by saxmatt

It doesn't have herpes, it has orange blotches because it's part koi and weird looking scales because it's part mirror carp. Looks like a white and orange koi spawned with a linear mirror.

You have any idea why they bred these carp that way? Koi are pretty, I get that, but why breed it with a carp with ugly scales? Why not a koi + a common carp?

[Jigman13]

Originally Posted by thmyorke1

You have any idea why they bred these carp that way? Koi are pretty, I get that, but why breed it with a carp with ugly scales? Why not a koi + a common carp?

I'd think it occurred naturally in the watershed...

[saxmatt]

Originally Posted by thmyorke1

You have any idea why they bred these carp that way? Koi are pretty, I get that, but why breed it with a carp with ugly scales? Why not a koi + a common carp?

Think of carp like the dogs of the fish world. They can interbreed to make some weird looking animals. Over many years people bred carp big to eat, small so we can keep them as pets like a goldfish, competition for best looking fish resulted in koi, carp with less scales are easier to fillet and cook resulted in mirrors. All of these different carp can still interbreed but have slightly different traits just like dogs. People have been bringing over different kinds of carp to NJ since the mid 1800s. There are carp mutts of different shapes and sizes all over our state. The "Carp" that can't breed with these are the grass carp, the bighead carp that is causing problems in the midwest which is an invasive species completely unrelated to carp other than by name, and the buffalo carp which is also unrelated to carp and is actually a native species to the US.