A truly one of a kind carp has been found in a netting procedure at a popular UK fish farm, with fishery managers saying "they've never seen anything like it before."
The 4-year-old mirror carp is around 15lb in weight and despite its beautiful scaling, its most recognisable and truly unique feature is its unusually large and peculiar shaped barbules.
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The barbules on carp and other species of fish are packed with taste cells that enable the fish to find food buried in the bottom debris - so this fish certainly won't be struggling to find its dinner!
Owner of the fish, Mark Simmonds, told us more about just how rare it is: "I've been growing and working with fish for over 30-years and I've never seen anything like it," he said.
"Nobody I work with or other fishery managers have come up with a reason for it yet either, none of the other carp from the same bloodline or spawning year have barbules like this - it truly is a one in a million fish!
"We have seen fish with longer barbules before, but this one has veins that lead down to what is best described as butterfly fins or feathers."
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The fish is part of a batch of 600 carp that are being grown on by 'Simmo's Super Stockies' for introduction into fisheries around the UK, but Mark has different intentions for the rare and fascinating creature.
"I've been offered some decent money for the fish already, as fishery managers are keen to stock it into their lakes for novelty value," he told us.
"I'm not interested in that, I want to monitor the fish and see how it grows. It is in perfect condition too, so we will be looking to stock it into our CarpTonik syndicate water at Newbury.
"Our team have already named the fish 'The Mexican', due to its droopy moustache, and I'm sure anglers on the syndicate will love the chance to fish for it.
"We may even do a prize for who can catch it first - they certainly won't have anything else like it in their photo album!"
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