Bleak (Alburnus alburnus) and Schneider (Alburnoides bipunctatus)
The bleak is a small fish which averages a length of about 15 cm. It has a steeply angled mouth and easily dislodged scales. Its back is green-grey or green-blue, the belly and sides are silvery, whilst the fin bases arc yellowish. Its belly behind the pelvic fins forrins a keel, which is smooth and scaleless. It lives in deep, slow-flowing waters of the middle and lower reaches of large rivers. In the daytime it stays close to the water surface and feeds on insects which have fallen onto it. It also often leaps out of the water. It spawns in May on water plants and its fry live on plankton. The bleak provides an important component in the food chain for predatory fish, whilst its scales are used for the manufacture of artificial mother-of-pearl.
It inhabits an area stretching north from the Pyrenees and the Alps across the whole of EUrope as far as the Urals. However, it is not found in Ireland, Wales, Scotland, northern Scandinavia, the Iberian and Italian peninsulas or in Dalmatia.
The schneider differs from the bleak in that it has a higher body and a double dark stripe, which highlights the lateral line at the front of its body. Along with the minnow, it lives in shallow waters in the upper reaches of rivers. It prefers middle layers of water, spawns in May and June and feeds on insects and their larvae. It lives in an area stretching from France to the Caspian Sea, but cannot be found south of the Alps and the Pyrenees, nor in Denmark, northern Europe or in the British Isles.
Alburnus alburnus
Maximum size and weight:
17 cm, 80 g.
Identifying characteristics:
Distinctive mouth strongly oblique. Large, loose, silvery scales; belly behind ventral fins forms a scaleless keel.
Alburnoides bipunctatus
Maximum size and weight :
15 cm, 60 g.
Identifying characteristics:
A double dark stripe on sides, edging lateral line in front of body. Body deeper than that of the bleak.
