Description
A small bottom fish, often in shoals.
How to identify it
A single long dorsal fin with a notch, dark spots on the fins, large head.
Appearance
A small fish with a perch-like profile, but lower, with a big, rounded head, large eyes and a small mouth pointing slightly downwards. The back is olive-brown or golden, dotted with dark spots; the flanks are paler and the belly whitish. The dorsal fin forms one long ribbon: the front part carries hard, pointed spines, the rear part soft rays. The gill cover also ends in a spine. Usually about ten centimetres long.
Habitat and habits
A bottom fish that lives in shoals in slow-flowing rivers, lakes, reservoirs and also in brackish water. It prefers the deeper, darker areas, over beds of sand, gravel or firm mud, where it roots about for bloodworm and other small invertebrates. It senses water vibrations with very sensitive sensory organs, which let it feed even in low light. From mid-April to June it moves to shallow, warmer water to spawn.
Related species and forms
Balon's Ruffe
Gymnocephalus baloni
Small percid of the Danube basin, described as a distinct species only in 1974.
Schraetzer
Gymnocephalus schraetser
Bottom-dwelling percid endemic to the Danube basin, called Schrätzer or Schratz.
Streber
Zingel streber
Small bottom-dwelling percid that lives in the fast-flowing waters of the Danube and Vardar basins.
Zingel
Zingel zingel
Large bottom-dwelling percid of the Danube basin, nocturnal and tied to fast-flowing stretches with gravelly bottoms.
There's more in the app
This species' bite index, recommended baits and methods, and the rules of the day for every water. Offline too.
Soon on Android and iPhone
