CHAPTER’ X 
THE BREAMS, THE BLEAK, AND THE LOACHES 
The Bream—Habits—Angling for Bream—The White Bream, or Breamflat 
—The Bleak—The Uses of Bleak—The Loach—The Spined Loach. 
Twelfth Sub-Family: ABRAMIDINA: THE BREAM GROUP 
Tue twelfth group of the Carp Family is distinguished by 
the prolongation of the base of the anal fin, and the lateral 
compression of the abdomen, or part thereof, into a narrow 
edge. 
The Bream (4bramis brama) 
Fins. TEETH. 
Dorsal: 12 rays. Pharyngeal, notched at the 
Anal: 26 to 31 rays. free ends, 5 on each side, 
Ventral: 10 rays. | in a single row. 
Pectoral: 16 rays. 
The bream is easily distinguished from other carps by the 
remarkable depth of the body, which is severely compressed 
laterally, and measures in length only about three times its 
depth. The abdomen is flattened into an acute ridge or edge, 
finishing off a peculiar configuration, which suggests that the 
animal owes it to his powerful fins that he has maintained a 
vertical position, and has not turned over on one side and so 
become a flat-fish. The dorsal fin, set in the middle of the 
back, is very short and high, acutely pointed, the first ray 
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