I30 BRITISH FRESH-WATER FISHES 



The range of the roach is a wide one, for it occurs as a lake 

 and river fish throughout Europe between the Alps and 

 Scandinavia, and from the Danube to the waters of 

 'Ireland. In Scotland it is exceedingly local and 

 irregular in distribution, and I am inclined to attribute its 

 presence both in that country and in Ireland to the agency of 

 man. For instance, in all the hundreds of lakes, great and 

 small, in my own district of Galloway, I can only speak with 

 certainty of the presence of roach in the two lakes at Castle 

 Kennedy. Mr. Harvie Brown has recorded the introduction 

 of this fish to the district of Moray in 1886 or 1887, when 

 a stock was turned into the Loch of Spynie. Persons who 

 own or manage waters containing more valuable fish ought 

 resolutely to refuse to establish roach among them. The roach 

 in the Castle Kennedy lochs above referred to have multiplied 

 to such an extent that the trout-fishing, which was formerly 

 excellent, has very much deteriorated. The roach are now 

 netted out in cartloads, and applied as manure to the land. 



The roach does not shrink from salt water, and is said 

 to abound in parts of the Baltic. Possibly a marine life 

 may have a beneficial effect upon its flesh, which has few 

 apologists in this country, but in a dried state forms an 

 important article of commerce in Russia. In the district of 

 the Caspian Sea the annual take of roach was reckoned, thirty 

 years ago, at between three and four hundred million, weighing- 

 upwards of 10,000 tons. The roe, both of roach and bream, 

 is extensively used as caviare. Day describes the eggs as 

 greenish, becoming red when boiled. 



The roach feeds upon such animal diet as worms, water 

 insects, molluscs, and spawn of other fish, but it also browses 

 upon vegetable substances. In Britain the spawning 

 season extends to near the end of June, but it is said 

 to be earlier in more southern countries. At this, not less than 

 at other times, roach are intensely gregarious, and so little 

 fastidious about their company, as to associate freely with their 



