Description
Forms shoals near the surface.
How to identify it
Slim and very silvery, upturned mouth, long anal fin.
Appearance
A small, long, flat fish of a brilliant silver, with a greyish-green back and blue reflections. The head is pointed and the small mouth is sharply upturned. The fins are pointed and almost transparent; the anal fin is long, whereas young roach have a broader body and a short anal fin. Small bream and silver bream can be mistaken for it, but they have a deeper body and a different mouth. In the breeding season the males show tubercles and orange-tinged fins.
Habitat and habits
It lives in large shoals just below the surface, in rivers, canals, lakes and reservoirs. It prefers open water, calm or slow-flowing, and concentrates where food arrives: below weirs and barriers, near inflows and in sheltered bends. It feeds on plankton, larvae and above all on insects that have fallen into the water, which it takes with quick darts. Between April and June it spawns in shallow water near the bank. It is more sensitive to pollution than many other cyprinids and is a key prey for predators.
Related species and forms
Danube bleak of the alpine lakes
Alburnus mento
Cyprinid of the pre-Alpine lakes of the Danube basin, known in German as Seelaube, Mairenke or Schiedling.
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This species' bite index, recommended baits and methods, and the rules of the day for every water. Offline too.
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