What kind of fish is this?

[sieverb]

Hey everybody, i was fishing last week sometime with a friend of mine in a local lake [lake odessa] just fishing with a nightcrawler and a bobber trying to catch some flathead bait to use later on, instead of catching bluegill we caught this fish, and i couldn't ID it eventhough i have been fishing since i could stand and have caught just about everyting. i tried the iowaoutdoors.org forum but they couldnt give me an answer that i felt was legit. maybe you can help me.

some say it was a carp, but its not because carp have a singe dorsal fin, this has two. others guess redhorse but redhorse dont have barbels, and either do suckers. somebody tried to tell me it was a gold fish. they must be mentally challenged.

i was thinking it might be a rudd, but we havent ever had rudd reported in IA.

[HuskerBen]

It looks like a carp that got a bite taken out of its back when it was younger. That's my vote.

[Ralph Wiggum]

The barbels say carp. That's my vote. It sure has a pretty red tail, though.

[lookincalifornia]

sure looks like an old wound on his back. could be a decorative pond transplant.

[carpmanjake]

carp, no doubt. was definately wounded as a young'n

[tsewdim]

3rd generation goldfish

[DEADhead]

everything about that fish screams carp. The way the dorsal section looks to me, there was some form of deformity or injury, likely at a juvenile stage, that separated the dorsal fin into two pieces.

[MIke A]

Well, anybody that knows fish knows that carp and goldfish are related. Another fish related to them is the Japanese Koi fish. I had a friend that got one for his fish tank and they can get very big. The coloring of this fish leads me to wonder if it was a Koi that just got too big for someone and they released it. Although, Koi usually have more colors on them and are a bit more streamline than this fish is, it's a possibility. But everyone is right, it's something related to a Carp if not a Carp.

[JayinMN]

Call me crazy, but I am going to go with a "tinfoil barb." It is a common aquarium fish that regularly out grows its tank. Google some images of the adults. It belongs in the order Cyprinidae, just like carp and other "barbed" minnows.

[roughfish29]

100% carp

[carpmanjake]

everything about that fish screams carp. The way the dorsal section looks to me, there was some form of deformity or injury, likely at a juvenile stage, that separated the dorsal fin into two pieces.

i have caught a carp just like it. but it was quite a bit bigger. lol

[StillwaterAaron]

Well, anybody that knows fish knows that carp and goldfish are related. Another fish related to them is the Japanese Koi fish. I had a friend that got one for his fish tank and they can get very big. The coloring of this fish leads me to wonder if it was a Koi that just got too big for someone and they released it. Although, Koi usually have more colors on them and are a bit more streamline than this fish is, it's a possibility. But everyone is right, it's something related to a Carp if not a Carp.

Common carp/Koi/Leather Carp/Mirror Carp are all the same fish going by latin terms. Latin is the best way to tell the differences between the fish. There are genetic traits that have breed to make them look different.