100lb French Carp?

[peter mccue]

John, the carp originally that were supposed to have been brought over by monks were of the early original wildcarp form (which were ALL full-scaled common carp and not mirror/leather carp that normally ranged from 3lb-10lb, and very rarely a maximum of 20lb) and certainly not the later fast-growing strains produced by genetic manipulation and cross-breeding in carp farms across eastern Europe.

 

 

Just as a (hopefully) interesting aside & quoting directly from Kevin Cliffords fascinating book 'History of Carp fishing'

 

The original wildie of hops & beer fame was already a genetically modified Carp & has been classified by the experts as a feral form of domesticated Carp. Apparently, there is evidence that strongly indicates that the true wildie had begun to be selectively bred in Roman times, possibly a thousand years before their introduction to England!

 

It would appear from the book that most of the populations in Europe which appear to be the wild forms of Carp, are in fact the feral variety, & the truly unsullied Wildie is in real danger of being lost through genetic contamination.

 

Oh well, seemed interesting to me