1 88 BRITISH FRESHWATER FISHES 



incidents has led to belief in the healing powers of 

 the Tench, not only for other fishes, but for the 

 human race. In olden times it was considered a 

 specific for many diseases, being applied to the 

 hands and feet to cure fever, or laid over the region 

 of the liver for jaundice ; headache, toothache, and 

 other ills were treated on similar lines. 



The flesh of the Tench is white and firm, but 

 varies much in quality, the best table fish sometimes 

 coming from the foulest water. It is said the 

 muddy flavour is removed by scalding, thus getting 

 rid of the coat of slime which covers the body. In 

 the Middle Ages this fish was much appreciated, and 

 used to be kept by the monks in their stew-ponds. 



The name Tench is derived through the old 

 French Tenche from Tinca> the Latin name of the 

 fish. 



THE MINNOW (Phoxinus phoxinus or P. aphya) 

 is very similar to the Chub and the Dace in form, 

 in the structure of the mouth, the pharyngeal 

 dentition, etc., but it differs in some important 

 characters which entitle it to be placed in a distinct 

 genus. The scales are small, numbering from 

 eighty to more than one hundred in a longitudinal 

 series, and are scarcely imbricated, whilst the lateral 

 line runs nearly along the middle of the side and 

 is composed of scales whereon the tubules extend 

 the whole length of the exposed parts ; the lateral 

 line is variously developed, in some examples not 

 reaching beyond the level of the pelvic fins, in others 

 extending nearly to the base of the caudal. The 

 dorsal fin is placed farther back than in the Dace or 

 Chub, ending above the origin of the anal ; both fins 





