The grass carp have an elongate, chubby body form that is torpedo shaped. The terminal mouth is slightly oblique with non-fleshy, firm lips, and no barbels. The complete lateral line contains 40 to 42 scales. Broad, ridged pharyngeal teeth are arranged in a 2, 4-4, 2 formula. The dorsal fin has 8 to 10 soft rays, and the anal fin is set closer to the tail than most cyprinids. Body color is dark olive, shading to brownish-yellow on the sides with a white belly and large slightly outlined scales.
The grass carp grows very rapidly, and young fish stocked in the spring at 20 cm (8 inches) will reach over 45 cm (18 inches) by fall, and adults often attain nearly 1.2 m (4 feet) in length and over 18 kg (70-90 pounds) in weight. They grow 10 pounds a year at least. They eat up to 3 times their own body weight daily. They thrive in small lakes and backwaters that provide an abundant supply of fresh water vegetation.
The Grass Carp goes by other names such as white amur.
