The Urban Pantheist

Just now hearing a story on NPR about the Lineville Spillway, "Where the Ducks Walk on the Fish" a dam in Pennsylvania with thousands and thousands of carp that have come accustomed to being fed.  I believe I was brought here as a child (my brother will confirm or deny; also I seem to remember it referred to as "Where the ducks walk on the fishes' backs") and joined the crowds throwing stale slices of white bread down to the fish and mallards.  In my memory, whole slices of bread were gobbled up before they even got wet.  I thought it was awesome.  I figured it was just one of those weird things that my family was into. 

However it's apparently the second biggest tourist attraction to the state, after the Liberty Bell.  That's a hell of a thing, in a state that has two major cities, one of which used to be the U.S. capital.  There are pro sports teams, Civil War battlegrounds, and it seems to me Lincoln made a speech there somewhere.  The second biggest tourist attraction is a place to feed fish?  An invasive species yet?

I love the fact that one of Austin's big tourist attractions is a huge colony of bats that happens to roost under a bridge in the middle of the city.  No one feeds the bats, except for the farmers a few miles out, whose crops attract moths and beetles.  Somehow the carp tourism feels different from the bat tourism.  Carp tourism is almost the opposite of ecotourism.

There was some controversy there this year as the Parks Department wanted to ban feeding the fish bread and bread products, and begin selling fish feed.  There was a public outcry and the plan was put on the back burner.  Apparently the issue was the health of the fish.  Too much of one thing is bad for any animal (unless its a panda or something) but are people really worried about the health of carp?  These things are basically aquatic cockroaches with backbones--they thrive on garbage.  On the other hand, a public outcry?  Isn't there anything else to cry out about?  Imagine if somebody proposed hiring these guys.  Now there'd be some outcry.

Urban species #130: Common carp Cyprinus carpio


Photos by cottonmanifesto

The common carp is a well-known, fairly large Eurasian fish that tolerates poor water quality, feeds on organic material in mud, and reproduces prolifically. It seems like a natural choice for artificial introduction, to provide a sustainable food source in an urban environment. Unfortunately, in the United States, the sport of carp-fishing is not popular, and the meat of this fish is not much sought after. Those few who do fish for urban carp are warned that these animals may have high levels of carcinogenic pcbs in their tissues. In the absence of human predation, urban waterways have become havens for common carp. Their bottom-feeding habits stir sediments into the water, making their habitat unsuitable for other fish that require cleaner water, or higher oxygen levels.

In some urban areas, such as Boston's Jamaica Pond, there are introduced Japanese Koi, which are common carp that have been bred in captivity for their bright orange and white colors. A 20 pound koi was caught there in 2005. Goldfish are carp relatives, and the same hobby of captive breeding produced the baffling variety of goldfish as well as koi.

Mature common carp are so large that they have no urban predators. The largest carp recorded have been over three feet and over eighty pounds. They can be fascinating to watch from urban bridges as they glide below the surface, or burst out of it, displaying their spawning behavior.

( More carp! )