Description
Similar to the bream, but smaller.
How to identify it
Deep, compressed body, large eye, silver colour.
Appearance
It is mostly confused with young bream. The surest sign is to count the rows of scales from the base of the dorsal fin to the lateral line: in the silver bream there are 9-11, in the bream at least 13. It has larger scales, a very large, round eye close to the tip of the snout, and pectoral and pelvic fins that are pinkish or vermilion red at the base. The other fins are grey. It stays silvery throughout its life and has very little slime, whereas young bream are very slimy. Males are slimmer than females.
Habitat and habits
It frequents still or slow water: lakes, ponds, reservoirs, oxbows and the calm stretches of lowland rivers. It likes warm water and muddy, food-rich beds, where it looks for larvae, small molluscs and other invertebrates. Young fish live in shoals often mixed with small bream; adults prefer deeper areas and come close to the bank mainly in the evening and at night. In spring it forms dense shoals that return each year to spawn in oxbows, quiet inlets and shallows near the banks.
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
