Philip,
I am not a fish geneticist but I understand you are asking this question: If you leave a domesticated carp long enough would it revert back to a true ancestoral wild carp? All varieties of dogs came from the wolf and were domesticated by man. If you left a pekingese or a bulldog long enough would it revert back to a wolf? The origin of the domesticated cow is the auroch (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurochs). If you left the domesticated cow to its own devices would it revert back to an auroch? Scientists tell us that the answer to all three questions is empatically no. The domesticated cow wouldn't survive long left in the wild without fields of managed grass and would soon fall foul to predators and disease. In the case of carp the changes made by man are not as great as that made in dogs and cows, but the same applies. Once man removed the ancestoral wild carp from its original home - the Danube, and put it in ponds, it changed irrevocably. Man didn't have to do anything else – that was enough to change it. It's shape, muscle content and other biological features would change because it no longer needed to swim against a strong current and find its food in a river, etc., its spawning time, oxygen requirement, temperature preference would alter as would other functions of it existence. But of course man did much more. He selected individuals for particular characteristics and inbred these - just like dogs and cows – and produced individual breeds having specific and reproduceable characteristics. So a domesticated carp can, over a very long time, revert to what looks similar to Danubian wild carp but it will never be identical.
Chris, there was an excellent feature about **** Walker's radio and tv appearances in No 59 Classic Angling. I don't suppose the editor would mind me scanning those pages and letting you have them for the purpose of research! Or you could buy it direct from Classic Angling. Drop me a line on
carpercfn@btconnect.com with your email and I'll send it to you. How did you get on at Croxby?
The images of carp by the way, since I'm not overwhelmed by folk wanting to take my £25. The top one (No 11) is a South Bohemian mirror carp. It is kept at a gene bank in the Czech Republic becaue of its importance. The bottom one is a cross between the Russian Ropsa and the Mariánskolázenský scaly carp.
Australian carp are definately feral domesticated carp. Got the following from Australian Museum. Three strains of carp have been introduced to Australia, an ornamental strain near Sydney (1850-60), a Singaporean strain in the Murrumbidgee (1876), and a hybrid "Boolara" strain in Victoria (1961). The latter two strains have interbred and this species is now a major pest in many inland streams in New South Wales.
) strain.
