THE TENCH 187 



seen fifteen or sixteen good-sized table Tench taken 

 in a short space of time. And in the course of a 

 favourable day one fisherman will easily secure five 

 or six dozen." 



The breeding season is usually in June, when the 

 males may be distinguished by the greatly enlarged 

 outer ray of the pelvic fin. The eggs are very 

 small and numerous and are deposited on the 

 weeds in quiet shallows, generally hatching out in 

 about a week. The young fish usually attain a 

 weight of about J- Ib. in a year, and a fish of 8 Ibs. 

 will probably be about the same number of years 

 old. 



The Tench used to be popularly regarded as the 

 physician of the fishes, especially of the Pike, and 

 even now the name " doctor fish " is given to it in 

 some parts of England. The sick or wounded fish 

 were supposed to be cured by the touch of the 

 Tench, the thick slime covering the body of the 

 latter being said to act as a sort of balsam. This 

 belief is now generally discredited, as is the idea 

 that the Pike forbears to eat his physician out of 

 gratitude for his services ; indeed, in some localities, 

 a small Tench is said to be a very good bait for a 

 Pike. My friend, the late Dr. Bowdler Sharpe, told 

 me that one day in May he stood on the bridge over 

 the lake at Avington and watched a large Tench 

 lying in the water below ; a shoal of Perch swam 

 up and lay round and above the Tench and appeared 

 to be rubbing against him ; on being disturbed they 

 swam back under the bridge, but soon repaired again 

 to the Tench and repeated this manoeuvre several 

 times. The meaning of this is obscure, but there 

 can be little doubt that observation of similar 

 14 



