Cyprinus carpio ( Linnaeus, 1758 )

Schulz-Mirbach, Tanja & Reichenbacher, Bettina, 2006, Reconstruction of Oligocene and Neogene freshwater fish faunas-an actualistic study on cypriniform otoliths, Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 51 (2), pp. 283-304 : 292

Cyprinus carpio ( Linnaeus, 1758)

Figs. 1A 4 , A 5 , B 1 , 12 . Material and dimensions.—See Table 2.

Description.—The shape is elongate−cuneiform. The posterolateral edge is clearly marked and forms a pointed tip, whereas, in general, the other edges are only weakly developed.

Remarks.—The lapillus illustrated in Fig. 12B corresponds well with such of Cyprinus carpio from the Salton Sea that have been described and figured in Martini and Reichenbacher (1993). Unfortunately it is not known if the fish belonging to the lapillus of Fig. 12B was a wild carp or a breeding carp. However, lapilli from an adult breeding carp ( Fig. 12A, C ) show irregularly crenulated margins and thus differ from the lapilli of the Salton Sea−carps. During the final preparation of the present paper, we had the opportunity to get additional subadult specimens of breeding carps (this material is not included in Table 2). Their lapilli all display a prominent crenulation of the margins. Thus it can be suggested that the irregular crenulation of the lapillus margins may origin from breeding effects.

Figures

Fig. 1. Position and morphology of the otoliths in the head of a carp. A. Computer tomography (CT) of Recent Cyprinus carpio (Linnaeus, 1758) (BSPG 2003 IV 143) and its lapilli; 150 layers of frontal sections were carried out from the dorsal to the ventral side of the head. 3D reconstruction of the head with the position of the otoliths projected (A1), frontal section (layer 36), showing the position of lapillus and asteriscus (A2), and frontal section (layer 38), showing the position of sagitta and asteriscus (A3); right (A4) and left (A5) lapillus in dorsal views (A4 and A5 are digital photographs). B. Digital pictures of the otoliths of Recent Cyprinus carpio (Linnaeus, 1758): lapillus in dorsal view (B1), asteriscus in medial view (B2), and sagitta in medial view (B3) (posterior tip incomplete). Otoliths are represented as right ones (BSPG 2003 IV 156b, d, and e respectively).

Fig. 4. Utricular otoliths (lapilli) of Recent Abramis bjoerkna (Linnaeus, 1758) from wild catches in Germany. A, B, D. BSPG 2003 IV 161, 43, and 41 respectively, in dorsal (A, B and D1 are mirrored) and anterior (D2) views. C. BSPG 2003 IV 42 in ventral view. All lapilli are represented as right ones, except for C and D2, which are represented as left ones (C is mirrored). SEM−pictures (C, D), digital photographs (A, B).

Fig. 5. Utricular otoliths (lapilli) of Recent Abramis brama (Linnaeus, 1758) from wild catches in Germany. A. BSPG 2003 IV 1a in dorsal (A1) and anterior (A2) views. B. BSPG 2003 IV 9 in dorsal view. C. BSPG 2003 IV 2a in ventral view. D–I. BSPG 2003 IV 6, 7, 12, 8, 1b, 2b respectively, mirrored, in dorsal views. All lapilli are represented as right ones except C, which is represented as left lapillus (mirrored). A, H and C, I display lapilli pairs. SEM−pictures (A–C), digital photographs (D–I).

Fig. 12. Utricular otoliths (lapilli) of Recent Cyprinus carpio (Linnaeus, 1758) from breeding stations in Germany. A. BSPG 2003 IV 52a in ventral view, represented as left lapillus (mirrored). B. BSPG 2003 IV 164 in dorsal view, represented as right lapillus. C. BSPG 2003 IV 52b in dorsal view, represented as right lapillus and mirrored (C1) and in anterior view, represented as left lapillus (C2). A, C, display a lapilli pair. SEM−pictures (A, C), digital picture (B).