Mirror Carp (Complete Guide With Facts and Photos)

The mirror carp is one of the most common types of carp in many waters around the world. It has a history that goes back hundreds of years, and it definitely is a very interesting one. As I frequently fish for mirror carp myself, I decided to write an in-depth article about this marvelous fish.

The mirror carp is closely related to the wild common carp and gets its name from its big and shiny scales that often resemble a mirror. Mirror carp are most commonly found in Europe and North America. It is a rather deep and round fish that can reach a weight of more than 80lb.

This article contains the most interesting facts about and some of the very best images of mirror carp. So make sure you read it all the way to the end if you want to learn more about the mirror.

What Do Mirror Carp Look Like?

Courtesy of Eddie Wells

Coloration

The mirror carp typically has a brown or dark-brown back and a yellowish or sometimes even whitish belly.

Its head often has the same or a similar color to its back, while the fins of the mirror carp are commonly colored similarly to its belly, except for the tail fin, which sometimes is as brown as the carp's back, and sometimes light brown or even brightly red in color.

Body Shape

Despite its close relationship to the wild common carp, which has a rather aerodynamic and torpedo-shaped body (due to its origins in river systems), the mirror carp, which has historically been stocked and bred in smaller lakes and ponds, has a plump body size.

This fish can get extremely round, deep and pack up a lot of fat reserves. Big mirror carp are often very big and compact fish.

An angler who wants to hold up a big mirror for a picture needs to have a lot of strength and a wide grip in order to hold the fish in its entirety. It can be really massive!

Scales

The mirror's scales are probably its most obvious feature. This fish is very scarcely scaled and sometimes only has a few patches of scales of varying size scattered over its body.

Tight patches of scales are most common near the tail fin, as is a lighter scaling along its back. There are usually also a few scales found just behind the mirror's gills.

The rest, and even those more "standardized" scale patterns and locations can look extremely different from fish to fish.

This unique and irregular scale pattern is the reason why individual mirror carp can be recognized so easily by anglers who catch them. It's also the reason why many of them have gotten names.

For example, the old English record mirror, called by the legendary Chris Yates at Redmire Pool in 1980, was called the Bishop.

Mouth

The mirror carp's mouth is rather big and it enables the fish to scoop up large amounts of feed off the bottom. The mirror's extendable lips remind one of a vacuum cleaner, and this fish doesn't have many limits when it comes to food!

On each side of its mouth, the mirror also has the, for carp, so distinctive barbules.

Fins

Mirror carp have a rather long dorsal fin, a wide and big tail fin, as well as large and roundish anal fin, pectoral fins, and pelvic fins.

The size of its fins can be explained by how much body mass this fish has to carry and balance underwater! They act as rudders of the small-scale submarine that is the mirror carp!

Where Can You Find Mirror Carp?

Courtesy of Claire Faulkner

Europe