Using 30 microsatellite markers and combin-ing quantifiable characteristics such as body weight, body length and body width, we evaluated the genetic potential of 3 German mirror carp (Cyprinus carpio L.) popula-tions. Number of effective alleles (Ae), observed (Ho) and expected (He) heterozygosity values and polymorphic information contents (PIC) were all calculated. Two hun-dred and eighty-seven alleles and 559 genotypes were detected. The DNA fragment length was 109-400 bp. The Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium was checked and the phenomenon of some disequilibrium was studied accord-ing to the χ2test. The results showed that the level of genetic variability was moderate, but genetic potential of Shuanglai population was much lower than that of Huanxin and Songpu breeding populations. PIC of the three populations of German mirror carp were between 0.08787 and 0.5377, both highly and moderately poly-morphic markers were 13. The number of the Ae was between 1.1014 and 6.4665. The Ho and He heterozygos-ity values were 0.0968-0.9892 and 0.0926-0.8554, respect-ively. The linkage correlation was analyzed using the data of body weight, body length and body width, and 30 loci. The result showed that there existed 2 loci, HLJ319 and HLJ693, associated with body length. The HLJ693 locus was significantly correlated with body weight trait. The HLJ677 locus was linked with body width. And then the result was verified in Recombinant Inbred Lines (RIL) of common carp. It showed that the HLJ319 locus was sig-nificantly linked with body length, the same as the result of quantitative trait loci (QTL) location for common carp.