TENCH— BITTERLING— BREAM— BLEAK 355 



Bitteriing. The °itterling (Rhodeus amarus), a fish about the size of the 



minnow, is almost as common as that species on the Continent, though 

 unknown in Britain. During spawning-time the male has gleaming blue sides, a 

 bright red abdomen, and deep red, black-edged tins. The female of this small fish 

 has a prolongation of the oviduct which enables her to deposit her eggs in the gills 

 of the fresh-water mussels in which they develop. 



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BITTERLING. 



The bream (Abramis brama), which lives largely on quilhvort 

 (Isoetes lacustris), is an inhabitant of the rivers of central Europe 

 north of the Alps. An allied species, the zai-the (A. vimba), is found in the same 

 localities as its relative, but seems to be absent from the Rhine. Two other species 

 (A. melanops and A. sapa) are confined to the rivers flowing into the Black 

 Sea. 



The zope (A. ballerus), which appears to have been derived from the zarthe, 

 is similarly coloured, with the median fins grey and the paired ones yellow, the 

 body being black. It is from 8 to 12 inches long, and is found everywhere in the 

 lower reaches of the larger rivers, and in the large lakes of the continental districts 

 it inhabits. The white bream (A. blicca), sometimes called the carp-bream, 

 characterised by the curved, crooked back, and the red colouring of the paired fins, 

 is also common in continental rivers and lakes. The white bream is also known 

 as the bleak-bream, but the characters of the bleaks and breams are more notice- 

 ably blended in the rapfen or small carp (Aspius rapax), which inhabits the 

 same districts as the barbel. 



The bleak {Albwrnus lucidus), which is distributed all over 

 central Europe, is distinguished by having the lower jaw projecting 

 beyond the upper, and a slender, narrow, greenish yellow body with the under 

 surface silvery white. Its scales are largely used in the manufacture of imitation 

 pearls : the bleak is very common in the Seine, and the process was discovered 

 about two hundred and fifty years ago in Paris. Another species (A. bipwnctatus) 

 is rarer, although distributed over cjuite as large an area. In this fish the body 



Bleak. 



