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Grass carp: Ctenopharyngodon idella (Valenciennes, 1844)

Grass carp:  Ctenopharyngodon idellus

Grass carp: Ctenopharyngodon idella



Leuciscus idella: Valencienues, 1844.

Ctenopharyngodon idellus: (Valenciennes, 1844).


Common name: Grass carp (English name)

Bangla name: Grass carp


Taxonomic position:

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Osteichthyes

Order: Cypriniformes

Family: Cyprinidae

Sub family: Cyprininae

Genus: Ctenopharyngodon

Species: C. idellus (Valenciennes, 1844)


Morphological description:

Elongated body is compressed in posterior part. Head is depressed and flattened. Mouth is terminal and lips are thin. The upper jaw is slightly longer than the lower jaw. Eyes are large and lateral in position. Barbells are absent. Dorsal fin is inserted slightly ahead of pelvics. Anal fin is short caudal fin is found. Scales are cycloid (Talwar and Jhingran, 2001). Colour in life, dark gray above, silvery on flanks and belly, base of each scale dark brown. Fins are dark.


Fin formula:

D. 3/7, P1. 1/17, P2. 1/8, A. 3/7-8.

D. 3/7, P1. 1/17, P2. 1/8, A. 3/7-8 (Bhuiyan, 1964)


Scales number on the lateral line is 40 to 45. Scales number is mentioned by Talwar and Jhingran (2001) as 40-42 scales on the lateral line series.


Habit and habitat:

This is a middle dweller and extremely herbivorous fish. Ponds, rivers, lakes, canals, beels, baors etc. both open and closed water bodies.


Breeding time:

Usually breeds in rainy season. This exotic carp species is now well known in Bangladesh. Seeds can be produce by induced breeding technique. Now found all over Bangladesh especially all culture ponds and baors (Rahman, 2005).


Economic importance:

Grass carp is a culturable highly growing species. If it gets proper food, it may weight at 4.5 kg at only one year. Very delicious food and protein supply a huge number of Bangladeshis people (Rahman, 2005).


Ecological role:

Grass carp takes harbs and other grass like plants. It cleans the water body from unhealthy aquatic vegetation. Some times it is use to control aquatic weeds (Talwar and Jhingran, 2001).


Marketing status:

Market price is varied between 80-100 Tk/kg (Appendix table-19).




Howes, 1981. Bull. Br. Mus. nat. Hist. 41(1): p. 45



Valenciennes, A. and Cuvier, G. 1844. (in French) Histoire naturelle des poissons. Tome septieme. Livre septieme. Des squamipennes. Livre huitieme. Des poissons a pharyngiens labyrinthiformes. Hist. Nat. Poiss. i-xxix+1-362.


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