CHAPTER XVII. 



THE RUDD OR RED-EYE. 



THE rudd (Leuciscus erythropthalwius) belongs to the second series of 

 Leuciscini, of which the other members are the azurine, bleak, and minnow. 

 They are so classified on account of the dorsal fin beginning some 

 distance behind the ventral fins on the opposite of the body. It is an 

 exceedingly beautiful fish, far surpassing its near relation, the roach, in 

 variety of tints and brilliancy. Its general hue on the scales is a reddish 

 or orange gold, varying, however, to light silver ; its back is of a greenish 

 blue, often of great vividness ; its fins are of scarlet, varying to crimson, 

 and its gill covers sometimes are bright yellow, at others paler ; its belly 

 likewise varying in colour. The irides are of a splendid crimson, and it 

 is needless to say that from this the fish derives its name. Best says 

 that this fish is also called Oerve or Nersling, and he opines that it is 

 the " bastard roach " of which Walton speaks in the following passage : 

 " There is," he says, "a kind of bastard roach that breeds in ponds, 

 with a very forked tail and of a very small size, which some say is bred 

 by the bream and right roach, and some ponds are stored with these 

 beyond belief ; and knowing men, that know their difference, call them 

 rudds. They differ from the true roach as much as does a herring from 

 a pilchard." He elsewhere also says, "Some say that breams and 

 roaches will mix their eggs and milt together, and so there is in many 

 places a bastard breed of breams that never come to be very large or 

 good, but are very numerous." Mr. Pennell seems to greatly favour the 

 supposition that rudd are a hybrid species of fishes. Let us examine 

 this opinion. 



Hybridity amongst fishes is rare, but certainly not unknown. Mr. 

 Bartlett, of the Zoological Gardens, I believe, has crossed the varieties 

 of the true carp, and but for two circumstances I do not know why the 



