Nombre, type et répartition des arêtes de filets de carpes communes (Cyprinus carpio, L.) originaires de six régions françaises de production

Abstract

Common carp is one of the main aquatic species produced in the world, especially in Asia but also in Europe; its total annual production reached 3.2 million tonnes in 2002. In France, carp is the main species produced in ponds; the market is not developed because of, above all, the negative image of the carp, a fish with an earthy-musty taste and numerous epineural and epipleural bones, called thereafter intermuscular bones. This study took place as part of a genetic program dealing with the influence of the strain on growth and processing ratios in carp to improve the feasibility of an economic and viable process. Fillets of mirror carps from six significant regions of carp culture in France (Allier, Brenne, Dombes, Forez, Lorraine, Poitou-Charentes) were compared by X-rays to determine the total number, the number of forked and unforked bones and the ventral or dorsal position of these intermuscular bones. Results confirm a correlation of the strains and their geographic origin with the number of ventral forked bones compared to the total number of bones. Carps of Dombes have less bones and also less forked bones in ventral position than the others, carps of Allier are characterized by the higher number of forked bones. Though some results well correspond to former studies, some characteristic differences in number, type and distribution of intermuscular bones in some strains indicate that it could be promising to take up these cases in further stock management and selective breeding programs on carp.