black carp
Mylopharyngodon piceus (Richardson, 1846)
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Mylopharyngodon piceus
Leo Nico, (United States Geological Survey) (Original uploader was Zp at cs.wikipedia) · Public domain · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 320 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
The black carp or Chinese black roach (Mylopharyngodon piceus) is a species of freshwater ray-finned fish belonging to the family Xenocyprididae, the East Asian minnows or sharpbellies. The black carp is the sole extant species of the genus Mylopharyngodon. It is native to lakes and rivers in East Asia, ranging from the Amur Basin across China to Vietnam. One of the largest xenocypridids in the world, the black carp has a typical length of 60–120 cm (23.5–47 in), though it can reach up to 1.9 m (6 ft 3 in) in length and 35 kg (77 lb) in weight. It is carnivorous and generally feeds on invertebrates such as snails, clams, and mussels. Black carp, together with bighead carp, silver carp, and grass carp, make up the culturally important "four famous domestic fishes" used in polyculture in China for over 1000 years. It has also been introduced in the United States as one of the invasive "Asian carps", though it is not as widely distributed worldwide as the other three.
Wikipedia contributors, Black carp; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T02:51:02.235058+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Mylopharyngodon piceus (Richardson, 1846)
- Name authority
- (Richardson, 1846)
- Common name
- black carp
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Teleostei
- Order
- Cypriniformes
- Family
- Cyprinidae
- Genus
- Mylopharyngodon
- Extinction status
- Not supplied by this source
Source habitat flags: Marine: no · Freshwater: yes · Terrestrial: no. These do not form a complete habitat description.
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- gigaclassActinopterygii
- superclassActinopteri
- classTeleostei
- orderCypriniformes
- familyCyprinidae Rafinesque, 1815
- subfamilyXenocypridinae Günther, 1868
- genusMylopharyngodon Peters, 1881
- speciesMylopharyngodon piceus (Richardson, 1846)
Close classified relatives
No other member of this genus is present in the selected snapshot.
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Myloleuciscus atripinnis Garman, 1912 Garman, 1912 | synonym |
| Mylopharyngodon aethiops (Basilewsky, 1855) (Basilewsky, 1855) | synonym |
| Barbus tonkinensis Sauvage, 1884 Sauvage, 1884 | synonym |
| Leuciscus aethiops Basilewsky, 1855 Basilewsky, 1855 | synonym |
| Myloleuciscus aethiops (Basilewsky, 1855) (Basilewsky, 1855) | synonym |
| Myloleucus aethiops (Basilewsky, 1855) (Basilewsky, 1855) | synonym |
| Mylopharyngodon pisceus (Richardson, 1846) (Richardson, 1846) | synonym |
| Leuciscus dubius Bleeker, 1864 Bleeker, 1864 | synonym |
| Leucisculus fuscus Oshima, 1920 Oshima, 1920 | synonym |
| Leuciscus piceus Richardson, 1846 Richardson, 1846 | synonym |
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=594789 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:743PJ. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.