Once upon a time there was a carp. And it was so tasty that people decided to adapt it for home breeding. Thus, a new breed of fish was created by artificial selection , which received the Greek name carp, which means fruit. Later, carps bred, on the paws of birds their eggs moved from one freshwater reservoir to another, until this fish settled in almost all of Eurasia, capturing even part of North Africa.
This fish is quite large, often reaches a mass of several tens of kilograms. What was the largest carp in antiquity, we do not know. Our ancestors had no time to weigh the caught fish, they just ate it. Obviously, nothing amazing was caught, otherwise an unusual carp would have been recorded in the chronicles.
It is clear that the largest carp should be found somewhere in the south: it grows faster and faster, there is plenty of food, and you do not need to hibernate. Just eat and grow on health! And so it turned out in reality.
In Europe, the largest carp was caught in the south of France. Two locals went fishing for the weekend, and here they go fishing: the giant's mass was forty-three kilograms, the second was a little less - thirty-eight kilograms! But this is not the limit. According to eyewitnesses, in the last century in the south of the European part of the Russian Empire they had to catch carps of a much larger size. The largest carp caught in the vicinity of Taganrog weighed four pounds and ten pounds. This is almost seventy kilograms!
It is interesting that modern European ladies in fishing are almost not far behind men. The largest carp, which the Dutchwoman Lysette Bounders caught at the end of last year, weighed as much as thirty-eight kilograms. This carp was mirrored and was also found in France.
Now we are transported from the European continent to Asia. In July 2007, a Thai fisherman named Kik fished twenty stones out of a local carp pond. Translated to the metric system, it will be one hundred twenty-seven kilograms! Yes, this is perhaps the largest carp in the world. Today.
This carp was caught on a homemade fishing rod, and in order to pose with a catch in front of the camera, I had to attract another person, since Kik could not keep a heavy fish on his own.
According to geneticists who tracked the carp’s pedigree, its homeland is located in Southeast Asia. After it spread throughout the continent, several breeds were developed that were quite different from the original. For example, a mirror carp, which is almost devoid of scales. Or a Japanese decorative carp, the breeding of which began in the middle of the first millennium BC. It is multi-colored and has a large number of breeds.
But all the “modifications” do not reach the size of a giant from Southeast Asia. And there, carps of a similar size are likely to be found infrequently. The Thai fisherman himself seemed surprised when he found out that the fish he caught was the largest carp. Photos and videos showing the angler’s joy clearly show that he is stunned and amazed by at least the spectators. Perhaps in the future it will be possible to pull out of the Thai waters and a larger giant. At least, this all has to it: the southern climate, the abundance of food for fish. So on an ordinary homemade fishing rod you can catch unusual fish!