CHAPTER X. 



THE TENCH. 



THE tench (Tinea vulgaris) is (next the carp) perhaps the most 

 interesting of the coarse fish. He is described by "Ephemera" as 

 a "mucous blackish olive carp"; but more truly by Blakey as a 

 "handsome thick fish, of a greenish yellow colour," and most satis- 

 factorily of all by Mr. Pennell, as follows: "The length of the head 

 alone being considered as 1 ; the total length of the head, body, and 

 tail fin not quite as 5 ; depth of the body at the deepest part, one- 

 fifth more than length of the head ; all fins rounded at the extremities. 

 Tail fin not at all forked, nearly square, with the corners rounded off ; 

 mouth small, toothless, with one barbel at each corner; scales very 

 small. Colours : Head, sides, and cheeks golden green, darker on the 

 back and fins, orange yellow under the belly, irides bright orange-red." 

 The measurements and description are applicable, of course, approxi- 

 mately only to all tench, in good condition of growth and health. The 

 word tench is from the Latin tinea, French tenche, and probably is 

 derived from an allusion to its soft-sucking lips. Cicero is reported to 

 have satirically applied the epithet tinea to a brother orator, probably 

 also alluding to a peculiarity of mouth. 



Tench are usually colloquially connected with carp. Why, is not 

 apparent. In some very important points it would be difficult to find 

 two fish more dissimilar. The carp, for example, has the largest scales 

 of any member of the family ; the tench possesses the smallest. The 

 general hue of the carp is gold and bronze, and that of the tench a deep 

 olive green. Carp are generally admitted to be a most attractive bait 

 for pike ; whilst the tench is well known to exert positively a repelling 

 power over the " tyrant of the watery plain." In its habits it is also 



