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Past Few Good Carping Days


tinycarper

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Great report and nice pics!

Please excuse my ignorance, but do you or does anyone else know why mirrors look the way they do? Is it a mutation or are they a different species/hybrid? I could probably "Google it", but the anticipation of finding out the answer is much better!

Regardless, congrats on the catch! Still looking for my first :ph34r:

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Please correct me if I am wrong....

A carp that has reduced scales and the body looks shiny.. genetic mutation of the "normal" carp.

It is not a mutation. Our carp were brought here from Europe about 140 years ago. They had been breeding carp there for the market for hundreds of years. They selectively bred carp to have very few scales, so that they were easier to prepare for eating. Carp scales are very tough and would easily have dulled the knives they had back then. This genetic trait is still in our wild carp. One out of thousands that hatch comes out as a mirror carp. In some parts of Europe mirrors are actually more plentiful than the fully scaled carp.

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It is not a mutation. Our carp were brought here from Europe about 140 years ago. They had been breeding carp there for the market for hundreds of years. They selectively bred carp to have very few scales, so that they were easier to prepare for eating. Carp scales are very tough and would easily have dulled the knives they had back then. This genetic trait is still in our wild carp. One out of thousands that hatch comes out as a mirror carp. In some parts of Europe mirrors are actually more plentiful than the fully scaled carp.

Thanks for the answer! Google couldn't have done it better! :)

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