Crucian carp
The crucian carp (Carassius carassius) is a medium-sized member of the common carp family Cyprinidae. It occurs widely in northern European regions.
Distribution
Carassius carassius is a widely distributed European species, its range spanning from England to Russia; it is found as far north as the Arctic Circle in the Scandinavian countries, and as far south as central France and the region of the Black Sea. Its habitat includes lakes, ponds, and slow-moving rivers. It has been established that the fish is native to England and not introduced.
Description and taxonomy
The crucian is a medium-sized cyprinid, typically 15 cm in body length, and rarely exceeds in weight over 1.5 kilograms (3.3 pounds). But a maximum total length of 64.0 cm is reported for a male, and the heaviest published weighed 3 kilograms.
They are broadly described as having a body of "golden-green shining color", but a more precise source states that young fish are golden-bronze but darken with maturity, until they gain a dark green back, deep bronze upper flanks, and gold on the lower flanks and belly, and reddish or orange fins, although other colour variations exist. One distinguishing characteristic is a convexly rounded fin, as opposed to goldfish (or C. gibelio) hybrids which have concave fins.
