The
family Cyprinidae, from the
Ancient Greek kyprînos (κυπρῖνος, "carp"), consists of the
carps, the true
minnows, and their relatives (e.g. the
barbs and
barbels). Commonly called the
carp family or the
minnow family, its members are also known as
cyprinids. It is the largest family of fresh-water fish, with over 2,400
species in about 220
genera. The family belongs to the order
Cypriniformes, of whose genera and species the cyprinids make up two-thirds.
Following the discovery that the mysterious
mountain carps are a peculiar lineage of cyprinids, they are included herein, tentatively as
subfamily Psilorhynchinae.
[He et al. (2008b)]Description
Giant Barbs (
Catlocarpio siamensis) are the largest members of this family
Cyprinids are stomachless fish and the jaws are toothless. Food can be effectively chewed by the gill rakers of the specialized last gill bow. These
pharyncheal teeth allow can make chewing motions against a chewing plate formed by a procession of the skull. The pharyncheal teeth are species specific and are used by specialist to determine the species. Strong pharyncheal teeth allow fish like the
common carp and
ide (fish)|ide to eat hard baits like snails and bivalves.
Hearing is a well developed sense since the cyprinds have the
Weberian organ, three specialized vertebra processions that transfer motion of the
gas bladder to the inner ear. This construction is also used to observe motion of the gass bladder due to atmospheric conditions or depth changes. Th cyprinids are
physostomes because the pneumatic duct is retained in adult stages and the fish are able to gulp air to fill the gas bladder or they can dispose excess gas to the gut.
The fish in this family are native to
North America,
Africa, and
Eurasia. The largest cyprinid in this family is the
Giant Barb (
Catlocarpio siamensis), which may grow up to . The largest North American species is the
Colorado Pikeminnow (
Ptychocheilus lucius), of which individuals up to long and weighing over have been recorded.
On the other hand, many species are smaller than . As of 2008, the smallest known freshwater fish is a cypriniform,
Danionella translucida, reaching at the longest.
[Nelson (2006)] All fish in this family are egg-layers and most do not guard their eggs, however, there are a few species that build nests and/or guard the eggs. The
bitterling-like cyprinids (Acheilognathinae) are notable for depositing their eggs in
bivalve molluscs, where the young grow up until able to fend for themselves.
Most cyprinids feed mainly on invertebrates and vegetation probably due to the lack of teeth and stomach, but some species like the
Asp specialize in fish. Many species
ide (fish) ide,
common rudd will eat small fish however when reaching a certain size. Even small species like the
moderlieschen eat larvae of the
common frog in artificial circumstances.
Some fishes are specialized in eating vegetation
grass carp, some eat algae from hard surfaces
common nase, some specialize in snails
black carp and some are specialized filter feeders
silver carp. For this reason they are often introduced as a management tool to control aquatic vegetation, diseases transmitted by snails and other purposes.
Relationship with humans
Cyprinids are highly important food fish; they are
fished and
farmed across
Eurasia. In
land-locked countries in particular, cyprinids are often the major species of fish eaten because they make the largest part of
biomass in most water types except for fast flowing rivers. In none landlocked countries they are not very much appreciated due to the high number of bones. In Eastern Europe they are often prepared with traditonal methods like drying and salting. The prevalence of inexpensive
frozen fish products made this less important now than it was in earlier times. Nonetheless, in certain places they remain popular for food as well as
recreational fishing, and have been deliberately stocked in ponds and lakes for centuries for this reason.
Cyprinids are popular for angling especialy for
match fishing (due to their dominance in biomass and numbers) and fishing for
common carp because of its size and strength.
Several cyprinids have been introduced to waters outside their natural range to provide food, sport, or biological control for some
pest species. The
Common Carp (
Cyprinus carpio) and the
Grass Carp (
Ctenopharyngodon idella) are the most important of these, for example in
Florida. In some cases, these have become
invasive species that compete with native fishes or disrupt the environment. Carp in particular can stir up
sediment, reducing the clarity of the water and making it difficult for plants to grow.
Numerous cyprinids have become important in the
aquarium hobby, most famously the
Goldfish, which was bred in
China from the
Prussian Carp (
Carassius (auratus) gibelio). First imported into
Europe around 1728, it was much fancied by Chinese nobility as early as
1150 AD and after it arrived there in 1502, also in
Japan. In the latter country, from the 18th century onwards the Common Carp was bred into the ornamental variety known as
koi – or more accurately
nishikigoi (錦鯉), as
koi (鯉) simply means "Common Carp" in
Japanese.
Other popular aquarium cyprinids include
danionins,
rasborines and
true barbs. Larger species are bred by the thousands in outdoor ponds, particularly in
Southeast Asia, and trade in these aquarium fishes is of considerable commercial importance. The small rasborines and danionines are perhaps only rivalled by
characids and
poecilid livebearers in their popularity for
community aquaria.
One particular species of these small and undemanding danionines is the
Zebrafish (
Danio rerio). It has become the standard
model species for studying developmental genetics of
vertebrates, in particular fish.
Habitat destruction and other causes have reduced the wild stocks of several cyprinids to dangerously low levels; some are already entirely
extinct. In particular,
Leuciscinae from southwestern
North America have been hit hard by
pollution and unsustainable water use in the early-mid 20th century; most globally extinct
Cypriniformes species are in fact Leuciscinae from the southwestern
United States and northern
Mexico.
Systematics
The massive diversity of cyprinids has so far made it difficult to resolve their
phylogeny in sufficient detail to make assignment to
subfamilies more than tentative in many cases. It is obvious that some distinct lineages exist – for example,
Cultrinae and
Leuciscinae, regardless of their exact delimitation, are rather close relatives and stand apart from
Cyprininae –, but the overall
systematics and
taxonomy of the Cyprinidae remain a subject of considerable debate. A large number of
genera are
incertae sedis, too equivocal in their traits and/or too little-studied to permit assignment to a particular subfamily with any certainty.
Part of the solution seems that the delicate
rasborines are the core group, consisting of minor lineages that have not shifted far from their
evolutionary niche, or have
co-evolved, for millions of years. These are among the most
basal lineages of living cyprinids. Other "rasborines" are apparently distributed across the diverse lineages of the family.
[He et al. (2008a)]The validity and circumscription of proposed subfamilies like
Labeoninae or
Squaliobarbinae also remains doubtful, although the latter do appear to correspond to a distinct lineage. The sometimes-seen grouping of the
large-headed carps (
Hypophthalmichthyinae) with
Xenocypris, on the other hand, seems quite in error. More likely, the latter are part of the
Cultrinae.
The entirely
paraphyletic "Barbinae" and the disputed Labeoninae might be better treated as part of the Cyprininae, forming a close-knit group whose internal relationships are still little known. The small
African "
barbs" do not belong in
Barbus sensu stricto – indeed, they are as distant from the typical
barbels and the
typical carps (
Cyprinus) as these are from
Garra (which is placed in the Labeoninae by most who accept the latter as distinct) and thus might form another as of yet unnamed subfamily. However, as noted above, how various minor lineages tie into this has not yet been resolved; therefore such a radical move, though reasonable, is probably premature.
The
Tench (
Tinca tinca), a significant food species farmed in western
Eurasia in large numbers, is unusual. It is most often grouped with the Leuciscinae, but even when these were rather loosely circumscribed, it always stood apart. A
cladistic analysis of
DNA sequence data of the S7
ribosomal protein intron 1 supports the view that it is distinct enough to constitute a
monotypic subfamily. It also suggests that it may be closer to the small
East Asian
Aphyocypris,
Hemigrammocypris, and
Yaoshanicus. They would have diverged roughly at the same time from cyprinids of east-central Asia, perhaps as a result of the
Alpide orogeny that vastly changed the
topography of that region in the late
Paleogene, when their divergence presumably occurred.
– bitterling-like cyprinids (4 genera)
Subfamily CultrinaeSubfamily Cyprininae –
true carps,
barbs and
barbels (includes Barbinae and Schizothoracinae, might include Labeoninae)
Subfamily Danioninae – danionins (some 10 genera)
Subfamily Gobioninae –
true gudgeons and relatives (including Gobiobotinae)
Subfamily Hypophthalmichthyinae –
large-headed carps
Subfamily Labeoninae (including Garrinae; might belong in Cyprininae)
