67 
colour of this fish is a bright yellowish pink on the head and back 
shading off into silvery sides and white underneath. The fins are 
usually pinkish white. 
Silver Bream (pages 34 and 3^). All bream are characterised 
by their depth of body, which rises suddenly behind the head ; 
their very narrow breadth, and the length of the ana! fin. As its 
name implies, this bream has a very silvery appearance, and is of so 
slight a breadth that it is often called the bream-flat. It frequents 
lakes and sluggish rivers, usually swimming in shoals, and often in 
company with roach and rudd. 
Pomeranian Bream (page 36). The general appearance and 
habits of this fish are very similar to those of the bream-flat. By 
some writers it is regarded as a distinct species of bream, but others 
consider it to be a hybrid between the bronze-bream and the roach. 
This seems the more likely solution as it bears a great resemblance 
to the latter. This fish may be distinguished from other bream as it 
is thicker set and not so deep as the typical members of the family, 
nor is its anal fin so long. The Pomeranian Bream is very rare tn 
British waters, making its appearance only at unexpected intervals. 
Bleak (pages 37 and 38) are silvery little fish somewhat like sprats 
in colouring and size. They may be readily known from roach and 
dace by their much longer anal fin. Bleak swim in large shoals near 
the surface of swift streams, where they feed on flies, midges and 
almost anything floating down stream that is small enough for them 
to swallow. The scales of this fish used to furnish the “essence 
d'orient" employed in the manufacture of artificial pearls. 
Tench (pages 39 40) are heavy-bodied fish, dwelling for the most 
part tn stagnant ponds, where thty lie in the mud during the day 
and only venture forth at night to feed. These fish are even more 
remarkable than the common carp for the length of time they can 
live out of water. They may he transported from one place to 
another packed in wet moss and on being returned to the water seem 
little the worse for the experience. Their food consists of the young 
shoots of water plants and the smaller life which teems in the mud 
of stagnant waters. 
The Golden Tench (pages 41-4*) is a domesticated variety of 
the Green or Common Tench. It originally came from the conti- 
nent, but has since been successfully acclimatised in Norfolk and 
other paits of the British Isles. Its colour and markings are liable 
to great variation, some individuals being lemon yellow, while others 
are bright red, like a gold fish. Some are closely spotted with black, 
others are quite devoid of any markings. In shape and habits the 
golden tench is identical with the common species. 
Loach (page 43), very much resemble gudgeon in their general 
appearance, but they have six barbels on the lips while gudgeon 
have only two. These fish may be found under stones at the bottom 
of clean shallow streams; they are very shy and retiring in their 
habits and seldom venture from their hiding places except at night. 
The Thunder-fish (page 44I, is another loach very common on 
the continent where it lives at the bottom of ponds half buried in the 
mud. At the approach of a storm this fish is said to become very 
restless and leaving the mud, which it seldom quits, swims vigorously 
about near the surface. On account of this habit of foretelling a storm 
this loach has been called the Thunder fish. 
