ABRAMLS LEUCKARTII. 221 



It is seldom more than one foot long-, and a pound in weight. It frequents 

 the rapid parts of large rivers like the Dnieper, Dniester, Volga, and Danube. 

 It i*= found in the fresher parts of the Black Sea, Caspian, and Sea of Aral. 

 Below Vienna it is common, and is sometimes found in the south of Bavaria, 

 but is not known in the Tyrol. It is found in the River Volchoff, 

 of the Baltic system. It lives for about four or five years. On account 

 of the number of bones it is not esteemed for food ; but the shining silver 

 scales are used, like those of some other fishes, in the manufacture of arti- 

 ficial pearls. 



Spawning begins early in April, when the males develop the characteristic 

 white tubercles on the skin. They are arranged in a single row on the free 

 posterior edges of the scales of the upper part of the body. There are dense 

 longitudinal rows of tubercles on the pectoral and ventral fins. The head is 

 ornamented with discoid tubercles. 



Abramis leuckartii (HECKEL). 



The Pomeranian Bream is probably a cross between the Bream and the 

 Roach, and is described as a Roach-like Bream or a Bream-like Roach. This fish 

 closely resembles Abramis drama in general aspect, but in the situation of the 

 mouth is like A. lallerus (Fig. 123). It differs from all the Breams in the 

 small number of rays, eighteen or nineteen, in the anal fin, and has the caudal 

 fin evenly-lobed. The head is rather less than one-fifth of the entire length, and 

 the body is three and a half times as long as high. The eye does not differ in 

 size or position from the usual condition in Breams. Both jaws are of the 

 same length; the terminal oblique mouth is rather small, and its angles do not 

 reach back to the nares; the nose is rather blunt. In the tail the height 

 diminishes to one-third of the height of the body. The dorsal fin is behind 

 the middle of the body, and is one-third higher than long. The shortest 

 ray measures one-third of the longest. The anal fin begins nearly opposite 

 the end of the dorsal, and is only a little longer than high. Its base is about 

 one-sixth of the entire length of the fish. The ventral fins are somewhat in 

 front of the dorsal fin, and in advance of the middle of the body ; they 

 do not reach back to the vent, nor do the pectoral fins reach back to the 

 ventrals. 



The scales show three or four rays at most. They are largest along the 

 lateral line, but scarcely attain two-thirds of the diameter of the eye. As in 

 species of Abramis, the males have warts on the scales under the dorsal fin. 

 The lateral line sinks to the lower third of the side. 



The pharyngeal teeth are commonly in a single row; exceptionally, Von 



