Although carp have gained themselves a bad reputation in some parts of the world, such as the United States, as being invasive and causing problems to native species, in some parts of the world, such as the UK, they are valued as a sport fish.
The specialised methods for catching them, their elusive behaviours and the great sizes that they grow to make for great sport.
When it comes to carp fishing, it is beneficial to build a detailed picture of their behaviours and anatomy and how it can relate to your fishing approach.
You better believe that the top carp anglers across the country study anatomy and behaviours of the fish and not just the methods to catch them.
One thing that can be beneficial to learn is how carp tastes and finds food which can provide some understanding of why the best baits on the market are so effective.
So, do carp have taste buds, and how do they use them to find food?
Do Carp Have Taste Buds
Carp do in fact, have taste buds and lots of them.
Carp can taste similar tastes to humans, such as sweet, sour, salt and bitter.
Studies have indicated that carp can taste a much wider range of substances than us humans and can detect flavours at a thousandth of the concentration of what we taste.
This essentially means that flavours are far more powerful. This explains why you should try to keep overpowering flavours to a minimum, as a small amount of flavour can go a long way.
Taste Buds in The Mouth
Much like humans, carp have taste buds within their mouths that they use for tasting foods. It is common for carp to pick up a potential food source into their mouth for tasting.
Once the food is tasted, it is then sometimes spat out and deemed unedible.
This is a reason that hair rigs can be so effective. If the carp picks up bait with a hook attached to the bait, it may taste the metallic hook and spit out the bait.
Also, using a hair rig provides more chances of the fish becoming hooked in the tasting process, as the hook can rotate and move freely when the bait is sucked into the carp’s mouth.
Taste buds in the mouth are mainly found on the lips, but there is a large number of taste buds on the roof of the carp’s mouth which aid the fish in sorting food.
As carp are scavengers, they will spend much time rooting for and tasting potential food sources.
Taste Buds on Barbels
Carp also have barbels with tastebuds and help the fish taste potential foods below them.
These barbels hang down from either side of the carp’s downturned mouth and can taste anything below them as they swim along the bottom.
As carp are classed as bottom feeders, they can spend around 40-50% of their feeding time on the bottom.
This is why the barrels hang from their mouths and taste foods below them.
Taste Buds on Fins and Body
Believe it or not, carp also have taste buds on the pectoral, and pelvic fins and also down their body and underneath their head.
How Else Do Carp Find Food?
Carp are great foragers and use various methods for scouring for food in every layer of water. Just because carp are bottom feeders, they don’t necessarily always feed on the bottom.
Carp use their sense of smell, eyesight and even an olfactory system that lets them sense any dissolved foodstuff in the water.
The carp use the following other methods for sourcing food;
- Eyes – These fish have excellent vision with two eyes on either side of the head. This vision is used to not only look for predators, anglers on the banks included, they also use them for sourcing food. This is why brightly coloured baits seem to work well as the carp’s attention is drawn to them.
- Olfactory System – The olfactory system allows the fish to sense dissolved substances in the water such as salts, sugars and proteins in baits that help to bring carp in from the surrounding area to your baits.
That’s All
Carp do have taste buds, and lots of them. Their mouths, barbells, some fins and underneath their body all have some sort of taste buds that they use for finding food in the water.
They also use their eyes and olfactory systems, which is a sense of smell to find dissolved substances in the water.
