Volume 37, Plate XXIV / Ichthyology (Fish)

Common Carp & Barbel, or Bearded Fish

Cyprinus carpio & Barbus vulgaris

1. Common Carp. Highly esteemed and native to temperate Europe, the common carp features an olive-brown body, a forked tail, and a vegetable-heavy diet. This hardy fresh-water fish is exceptionally tenacious of life, thriving in muddy ponds where it can reach great sizes and advance to ages exceeding a century.
2. Barbel. The barbel is a European fresh-water fish featuring a greenish-brown body, a prolonged head, and characteristic mouth cirri. Abundant in rapid continental streams and English rivers like the Thames, this bottom-feeding species can reach massive sizes, exhibits deep winter torpor, and is generally considered a coarse food.