Silver Carp - Related Species

Related Species

The genus Hypophthalmichthys has two other species, the bighead carp (H. nobilis) and the largescale silver carp (H. harmandi). The genus Aristichthys is also sometimes used for bighead carp, but this genus was based on fallacious theory and should no longer be used. The bighead carp differs from the silver carp in its behavior (it does not leap from the water when startled) and also in its diet. Bighead carp are also filter feeders, but they filter larger particles than silver carp and in general consume a greater proportion of zooplankton in their diets than silver carp, which consume more phytoplankton. In at least some parts of the United States, bighead and silver carp hybridize in the wild and produce fertile offspring.

The largescale silver carp is very closely related to the silver carp, but its native range is to the south of that of the silver carp, mostly within the country of Vietnam. Unlike bighead and silver carp, largescale silver carp have not been widely introduced around the world for use in aquaculture, although at least one introduction was made to some waters of the Soviet Union, where they hybridized with the introduced silver carp.