The goldfish’s tasty cousin

Carp were imported to England and Wales from central Europe in the mid1300s. Monks fattened them up to feast on and they were a delicacy in Tudor England.

They are still traditionally eaten on Christmas Eve in many parts of Europe.

Of nine main species, five are common to the UK. Goldfish are members of the carp family, while Japanese koi are very valuable and can live for 100 years. Freddie Mercury kept 89 koi, worth £1million.

The biggest carp ever caught was a 222lb giant Siamese, by Briton Tim Webb, 57, in Thailand in August 2014.

Carp feed on water plants, crustaceans, insects and smaller fish. They are often considered an invasive species because they can decimate other fish populations.