The grass carp Ctenopharyngodon idella in the southern Western Siberia

Abstract

The natural area of grass carp Ctenopharyngodon idella includes the river basins of East Asia from the Amur to Xijiang. The habitat of grass carp is rivers, lakes and ponds. It spawning is in rivers with high flow rates, during pronounced rises in water levels, at temperatures above 18 °С (usually 22–24 °С). It feeds mainly on aquatic vegetation. The grass carp is very common aquaculture object, currently it ranks first in the world in terms of commercial cultivation. In the south of Western Siberia, there is significant interest to grass carp not only as an object of cultivation for commercial fish products, but also as a biological meliorator. However, the possibilities of its cultivation are limited by the climatic features of the region. The problem can be solved by obtaining large grass carp fish seeding material under RAS. There are known cases of single captures of individuals of this species of different ages in the Ob, Irtysh, Tom rivers and in the Novosibirsk reservoir, where they probably end up from nearby fish farms. Currently, data about the natural reproduction of the grass carp in the Ob river basin is missing (except, perhaps, the Belovsky Reservoir).