232 TIN: KKKSH-NVATKI; FISHES OF EUROPE. 



GTENUS: AlburnuS (HECKEL). 



This genus has a form of body which resembles the genus Pelecus, and h:is 

 the lateral line running below the middle of the side. The dorsal fin is short, 

 and opposite to the space between the ventral and anal fins, in which there is a 

 general resemblance to Abramis ; only the fins are placed farther back, so that 

 the dorsal is well behind the middle of the body, but not so far back as in 

 Pelecus. The anal fin is extended, and never contains fewer than thirteen rays. 

 The lower jaw projects beyond the upper, which is protractile ; the lips are 

 thin. The gill-rakers are slender and dense ; pseudo-branchiae are present. 

 The pharyngeal teeth are in two series, and hooked (Fig. 130). Behind the 

 ventral fins the abdomen is compressed into a sharp keel, which the scales do 

 not cross. This genus extends through Europe, but is better represented in 

 the south-east than in the west, while some Russian species range into Persia, 

 and other species are peculiar to Asia Minor, Syria, the Tigris, Kurdistan, 

 and some Persian streams. 



Alburnus lucidus (HECKEL AND KNER). The Bleak. 



D. 1011, A. 1923, V. 910, P. 15, C. 19. 

 Scales : lat. line 47 53, transverse 8 9/4 3. 



The Bleak is eminently a fish of the region north of the Alps. It is 

 r Allette in France, Lanbe in South Germany, Uckelei in Prussia, and Loja in 

 Sweden (Fig. 131). 



It is a small fish, generally four or five inches long, and not exceeding seven 

 inches in any part of Europe. 



It is four and a half to five times as long as high, and five and a half times 

 as long as the head. The eye is separated from the snout, as well as from the 



opposite eye, by its own diameter. The oblique 

 mouth reaches back under the nares. The lower 

 jaw, partly owing to the oblique position of the 

 mouth, stands in front of the upper jaw when the 

 mouth is closed; and the projecting point of the 

 Wer J aw is receivcd into a depression in the pre- 

 maxillary bone, as in the genus Pelecus. 



The profile of the back is very slightly convex, but the back of the head 

 is defined by a ridge, in which the curve of the back begins. 



