806 



SCAMiINAVIAN FISHKS. 



occurs ill tlie River Helge, and of wliich wtt sliall iiave 

 more to say below, these spots, according Mr. Svens- 

 sox, Preparator at tlie Royal Museum, are rerj' com- 

 mon. To judge by their appearance in one stuffed 

 specimen, however, they seem to be morbid symptoms, 

 concretions of pigment on abraded scales or more or 

 less injured fin-raj's. 



Tiie White Bream — the German Blicke or Glister, 

 tlie Daiiisli Flire, Blege, or Blaafinne, and the French 

 Bonldif-re" — has an extensive range in fresh water 

 iiortii of the Alps, from Ireland eastwards throughout 

 Russia-in-Europe''. In Finland, according to ^Iela, it 

 goes north to lat. 63^ 40'. In Nor^vay it has not been 

 found. It is common in most of the lakes of South- 

 ern Sweden and in tiie inner part of the Baltic island- 

 belt. As it is a species generally despised, and while 

 confounded by most fishermen with young Bream, goes 

 bv different names in most of the localities where it 

 occurs and is known to be a distinct form, we are as 

 yet unable to fix the limits of its range in Sweden, 

 especially to the nortli. \A'e know that it is common 

 in tlie ^Miliar Valley, Lake Wener, and the southern 

 provinces. Nilsson found it in the Dal Elf at Soder- 

 fors in 1829. Wisteom supplied Lilljeborg with in- 

 formation of its occurrence in the fjords near Hudiks- 

 vall (about 62° N. lat.), and Steffexburg of its pre- 

 sence in the basin of the Dal Elf up to Lake Uje in 

 Dalecarlia (61° N. lat.). According to Malm it is pretty 

 common in Bohusliin, according to Nilsson common in 

 Scania. It is known by many names, e. g. BJdIke, 

 Blecka, BJorkfisk, Bjorkare, Kjarta, Paiika, Blapanka, 

 ■with several different dialectic pronunciations of these 

 words. 



The White Bream thrives best in lakes and rivers 

 with a- clayey and sandy bottom overgrown with weeds. 

 F^arly in spring it repairs to shallow and weedy shores, 

 where it spawns periodically in June or even at the 



middle of May. In favourable weather each spawning 

 lasts about three daj's, at longer or shorter intervals. 

 The old fish spawn first, the young some time later. 

 The roe is deposited on the weeds, to which it adheres. 

 During the operation of spawning the fish plunge and 

 splash about at the surface, where they are seldom seen 

 on other occasions. The White Bi-eam usually keeps 

 to the bottom, sometimes swimming in mid M-ater. 

 Though shy and greatlv afraid of noise at other times, 

 it is tame and fearless during the s})awiiing, when it 

 may be caught with ease. 



It passes the whole summer in shallow water, and 

 does not retire to the depths until autumn, when it de- 

 scends to its winter-cjuarters. It is one of the most 

 voracious Cyprinoids, feeding on weeds, insects, and 

 worms, and biting so freely that it is a nuisance to the 

 fisherman, for it often secures the bait without being 

 hooked. It has therefore received the nickname of dtare 

 (glutton). 



Though it thieves so greedily, and is always on 

 the alert where there is anything to be got, it is al- 

 ways lean. As it is also of small size, and the flesh 

 very bony, it is never in request, being eaten only for 

 want of better fish or bj' the poor. Like most of the 

 Cyprinoids, it is very prolific — Block estimated the 

 number of the eggs in a female weighing 117 grra. at 

 about 108,000 — and thus yields quite a considerable 

 supply of food to the larger and better flavoured fishes- 

 of-pre}". 



No special fishery is carried on for the ^A'hite Bream 

 to the best of our knowledge; but as it is, so to speak, 

 omnipresent, it is taken with most of the tackle em- 

 ployed for other fishes. The greatest quantity is caught 

 in spring, at the approach of the spawning-season, in 

 the baskets (Sw. Janor) set for Eel in rivers and large 

 streams. 



(Ekstkom, Smfft.) 



As we have mentioned above, the difficulties of the 

 systematist are increased by the occurrence in this fa- 

 mily of forms Avhose characters incapacitate them for a 

 place either within the Leuciscine or the Abramidine 

 subfamily, though their whole nature distinctly indicates 



"Because it always keeps to the shore" (Rondelet). 

 Grimm, Fishing and Hunting in Russian Waters, p. 15. 



their near relationship to one or other of the species 

 already described. These forms have been explained as 

 hjbrids; and in Southern Sweden (Scania and Blekinge) 

 M'e find two of them, descended probably on one side 

 from the White Bream and on the other from the Rudd 



