Contents -- Preface -- 1. The origin of domesticated breeds of common carp -- 2. The karyotype of the common carp and the genetic mechanism of sex determination -- The chromosome number of common carp and the problem of polyploidy -- Sex determination in the common carp -- 3. Genetics of quantitative traits in the common carp -- Scale cover -- Pigmentation -- Other morphological traits -- Biochemical genetics -- Blood groups and histocompatibility -- Linkage relations -- The conservation of variation : a practical problem -- 4. Biometrical genetics of the common carp -- Variation of quantitative traits -- Polygenic inheritance in carp -- Phenotypical and genetic correlations between variable traits -- Genorype-environment interaction -- 5. Inbreeding and inbreeding depression -- 6. Gynogenesis, androgenesis and polyploidy in the common carp -- Spontaneous gynogenesis -- Induced gynogenesis -- Peculiarities of diploid gynogenetic carp and the application of gynogenesis to genetic studies -- Androgenesis -- Polyploidy in the common carp -- 7. Sex regulation in common carp -- Production of unisex offspring -- Sex reversal in young fish by steroid hormones -- Crossing transformed males with normal females -- Polyploidy as a mechanism of sex regulation -- 8. Genetic engineering in the carp : the state of the art and future prospects -- Introduction -- Gene cloning -- Methods -- Prospects for the practical use of genetic engineering in carp culture -- 9. Selection and breeding of the common carp -- The objectives of artificial selection -- Methods of selection -- The most important carp breeds and breeding programmes -- Commercial hybridization -- Interspecific hybridization -- References.