212 THE FRESH-WATER FISHES OF EUROPE. 



the free end, where they are marked with a fan-like pattern of ten or twelve 

 diverging rays. The basal border is irregularly festooned. The scales on the 

 throat and fore part of the abdomen are small, but still smaller scales occur 

 on the sides of the back of the skull, which is free from scales. The lateral 

 line extends in a curve parallel to the venti'al outline, and the mucus-canals 

 of the head are obvious in their extension to the eyes and nares. The comb- 

 shaped accessory gills are free, and well developed. 



The colour of the back and upper part of the head is black or olive-green ; 

 the sides are yellowish-white, with a silvery lustre, and dark scattered pigment 

 spots ; the throat is reddish, the abdomen silvery. The iris is golden yellow, 

 with black spots, and all the fins are bluish-black ; but sometimes the early 

 rays have a scarlet tinge. 



The Bream varies in size in different parts of Europe. In Russia, where it 

 occurs as far north as latitude 63, large specimens weigh eight pounds, though 

 the fishermen speak of Bream weighing fifteen or twenty pounds. The average 

 weight at Novgorod is one pound and a half, and at Astrakhan a little over three 

 pounds. But the weight of the fish, as well as the number caught, has dimin- 

 ished everywhere, owing to the increase of fishing and the long time which the 

 Bream needs to attain to a large size. The Bream is one of the larger fishes 

 in the Danube and Lake Constance, where it may be a foot and a half long, 

 six inches high, and weigh five or six pounds. In the Atter See the weight is 

 ten pounds; and various German writers refer to heavier fishes, in which 

 the weight has reached as much as twenty pounds. In North Germany, 

 the length reaches sixty to seventy centimetres, and the weight ten to twelve 

 pounds, though Giinther mentions fifteen pounds and a length of two or three 

 feet. In France the size and weight are less, not exceeding eight pounds. 

 In Norfolk a Bream known to be fifty years old weighed eleven pounds and 

 three-quarters, and measured two feet two inches. We saw a Bream taken 

 once from the Serpentine, in Hyde Park, which weighed between seven and 

 eight pounds. 



The Bream lives in rivers, lakes (like Thun and Wallenstadt), shallow 

 ponds, and marshes; and, according to Eckstrom, is found in the sea off 

 Norway and Sweden. It prefers waters with a strong stream and muddy 

 or clay bottom. In summer it remains at the bottom, between water plants, 

 and burrows in the mud, often betraying its existence to the angler by 

 the disturbed state of the water. Its food consists of water plants, worms, 

 insects, and mud. 



It is a fish of social habit, often assembling in large numbers, and 

 apparently following the leadership of some able fish, known in France as the 

 King Bream. It is a cautious, timid fish, with the faculty of hearing so 



