THE CHUB 135 



Cholmondeley-Pennell has put the following measurements 



on record : 



Weight, 5 lb. 5 1 oz. ; length, 21 in. 



,, 6 lb. 2| oz. ; ,, 22 in. 



„ 7 lb. o\ oz. ; „ 23 in. 



In the autumn of 1902 a fine chub was killed in the Eden, 

 Cumberland, by Mr. W. Corless, of Wigan. The dimensions 

 of this fish were as follows : Length, 24 in. ; girth, 1 5 in. ; 

 weight, 6 lb. 3 oz. From Austrian waters chub of heavier 

 weights than these are reported. 



The chub is widely distributed over the temperate zone in 

 Europe and Asia Minor, but does not extend far into Scotland. 

 Distribution ^''^ some tracts, notably the Spanish peninsula and 

 and habits. Dalmatia, it has assumed varietal forms so constant 

 as, in the opinion of some naturalists, to constitute separate 

 species. Unlike many cyprinoid fish, it is impatient of pollu- 

 tion, and loves clear running water and a gravelly or sandy 

 bottom. In no British river is it more abundant than in the 

 Eden of Cumberland, where it is known as the skelly,* and 

 regarded as a mischievous kind of vermin because of the 

 destruction it executes upon the ova and young of salmon and 

 trout. It is of a more actively predaceous habit than any other 

 British cyprinoid fish, for although it consumes large quanti- 

 ties of vegetable food in summer, it is practically omnivorous. 

 Worms, flies, trout and salmon spawn, small fish, frogs, and 

 even mice come not amiss to the chub's capacious maw. There 

 is, therefore, more than one reason for the owners of waters 

 containing trout to detest the worthless chub, which not only 

 destroys great quantities of spawn and fry, but appropriates a 

 vast deal of the provender which would otherwise go to sup- 

 port better fish. In the Cumberland Eden is practised a device 

 for getting rid of chub, which is known as " fuddling skellies." 



* This term is also applied in the English Lake District to a very 

 "different fish, Coregonus clupeoides, one of the lacustrine Sahnonidce. 



