of fish and could withstand the trauma of uk business email databasetransportation by land and sea to far-off lands. There is evidence that the common carp, Cyprinus carpio finally made it to Japan about 1,000 years ago. But why were carp kept in captivity in those early years. It seems that Japanese farmers kept carp in mud ponds to supplement their daily diet of rice and vegetables. It is said they kept them in the paddy fields in which they grew their rice, but it seems more likely they were kept in the reservoir ponds above the paddy fields.
Once any species are kept in a restricted breeding ground, sooner or later it will produce a mutation. In the case of carp, over hundreds of years, these mutations caused external differences, including a pronounced color change. The mutant fish were prized by the farmers and kept out of interest, instead of becoming food for the table. When these fine color irregularities were found, the farmers began producing “colored carp” as a hobby. This apparently occurred between 1840 and 1844, long after the early years of carp farming.