The living habits and morphological characteristics of big-eyed carp (Erhai old fish head)

The big-eyed carp (Cyprinus (cyprinus) megalophthalmus) belongs to the order Cypriniformes, Cyprinidae, Cyprin subfamily, and Cyprinus genus. Commonly known as: old fish head, shell fish, grass shell fish. English name: Bigeye carp.

Endangerment level: Endangered.

The body shape is like a carp. The back is not significantly humped. The head is large, broad and flat on the sides, and the head is about as long as the body height. The snout is short and blunt. The mouth is at the end, in a deep arc shape, and the upper and lower jaws are approximately equal in length. There are 2 or 1 pair of barbels. The muzzle is very short or disappears. Big eyes. The scales are larger, with 35-37 lateral line scales. Both the dorsal and anal fins have hard spines with fine teeth on the trailing edge; the starting points of the dorsal and pelvic fins are opposite or slightly in front of the dorsal fin, and the outer edge of the dorsal fin is obviously concave; the even fins are both large. The crown of the second main row of hypopharyngeal teeth has 2-3 grooves. The sides are silvery gray, the belly is gray, and the belly is white. Each fin is light yellow. The front edge of the lip is black. There are small crescent-shaped black spots on the trailing edge of each scale above the lateral line. There are silvery white spots on the side of the head and shoulder straps.

Lives in the middle and upper waters of the coastal zone, and inhabits deeper water in winter. Like group activities. Mainly feeds on zooplankton, small fish, shrimp and filamentous algae. The spawning period is from May to June. The spawning grounds are mainly in shallow water areas with clear water and gravel bottoms, and eggs are laid on aquatic plants. Generally, individuals are sexually mature with a body length of about 70 mm. Adult fish weigh more than 1 kilogram.

The big-eyed carp is endemic to my country and is only distributed in Erhai Lake, Yunnan.

The big-eye carp is not large in size, but its meat is delicious. It is one of the main edible fish in the production area. Since the mid-to-late 1970s, the Erhai Lake water level has dropped, causing the original spawning ground to dry up or turn into a swamp. A large number of aquatic plants have grown, making it no longer suitable for bigeye carp to spawn. In addition, long-term overfishing, and some small wild fish among the introduced fish have devoured their eggs in large quantities, resulting in a significant decline in production.

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