Skip to content
WAnimals
  • Map
  • Species
  • Parks
  • Diving
Log inCreate account
WAnimals

The guide for travellers and animal lovers: discover, plan and share your wild adventures around the world.

Discover wildlife

  • Species
  • Ecosystems
  • Glossary
  • Tags

Explore places

  • Map
  • Countries
  • Parks
  • Diving

Plan experiences

  • Guides

Learn

  • Blog

Resources

  • About us
  • How we build our profiles
  • Help centre
  • Contact
  • Install the app

Follow us

Account

  • Log in
  • Create account

© 2026 WAnimals. All rights reserved.

Terms of servicePrivacyCookiesLegal notice
MapSpeciesParksDiving
  1. Home
  2. Species
  3. Grass Carp

One of the 4 carp on WAnimals

Bony fish · Cypriniformes · Xenocyprididae

Grass Carp

Ctenopharyngodon idella

Not Evaluated

It has not yet been assessed against the IUCN criteria.

Spotted something wrong?

The grass carp is the species Ctenopharyngodon idella, the only one in the genus Ctenopharyngodon of freshwater cyprinid fish in the order Cypriniformes, native to China and eastern Siberia.

Weight

24.8 kg on average

Size

up to 1.5 m

Life expectancy

21 years

Diet

Herbivore

Feeds mainly on plants.

Freshwater
78countries1same family

Fun facts

  • It has been introduced across half the world to control aquatic vegetation; in Europe it persists only through restocking, because it cannot breed there.
  • To stop it establishing itself, functionally sterile triploid fish are used.

Life cycle and biology

Skeleton type
Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (bony fish)
Habitat and environment
Large rivers and lakes of East Asia, from northern Vietnam to the Amur basin, between 0 and 30 m; it tolerates 0 to 35 °C and brackish water
Sexual maturity
4.2 years
Gestation / incubation
The eggs hatch in two or three days

Sources consulted: Wikipedia (es): Ctenopharyngodon idella

Where to find it

Loading map…

Related species

Other species in the catalogue with the most in common with Grass Carp — same habitat, park, country, tags or family.

Same taxonomic family
Related to
Related to
Related to
Related to
Related to

Keep exploring

Based on what we already know about grass carp.

Share an experience, a fun fact or a tip for seeing the grass carp.
See full glossary
This page in other languages: Español · Deutsch · Français · Português · Italiano
See its range on the interactive map→
Silver CarpNear Threatened

Silver Carp

Hypophthalmichthys molitrix

Critically Endangered

Mekong Giant Catfish

Pangasianodon gigas

Least Concern

Amazon Sailfin Catfish

Pterygoplichthys pardalis

Least Concern

Rohu

Labeo rohita

Near Threatened

Iberian Straight-mouth Nase

Pseudochondrostoma polylepis

Least Concern

Zebra Mbuna

Maylandia zebra

CountriesAlbania
TagsHerbivore
Herbivore
Fish
Freshwater

Europe37

Asia19

Africa11

South America5

North America4

Oceania2

Albania
Argentina
Austria
Bangladesh
Belarus
Belgium
Albania
Austria
Belarus
Belgium
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bulgaria
Croatia
Cyprus
Czechia
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Hungary
Ireland
Italy
Latvia
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Malta
Moldova
Montenegro
Netherlands
Norway
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Serbia
Slovakia
Slovenia
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Ukraine
United Kingdom
Bangladesh
China
India
Indonesia
Iran
Israel
Japan
Kazakhstan
Malaysia
Nepal
Pakistan
Philippines
Russia
South Korea
Taiwan
Thailand
Türkiye
Uzbekistan
Vietnam
Egypt
Kenya
Morocco
Nigeria
South Africa
Sudan
Tanzania
Tunisia
Uganda
Zambia
Zimbabwe
Argentina
Brazil
Colombia
Peru
Venezuela
Canada
Cuba
Mexico
United States
Fiji
New Zealand