Blicca bjoerkna facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Blicca bjoerkna |
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Blicca
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bjoerkna
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The silver bream (also known as Blicca bjoerkna or white bream) is a type of freshwater fish. It belongs to the Cyprinidae family, which includes many well-known fish like carp and minnows. This fish is common in rivers and lakes across Europe.
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Where Silver Bream Live
Silver bream are found in many parts of Europe and nearby Western Asia. You can find them in most of Europe. However, they are not naturally found in northern Sweden, Finland, or Norway. They are also rare in most of the British Isles, except for southern England. You won't usually find them in Spain or Italy, though some have been introduced there. In Asia, they live in areas around the Caspian Sea and Aral Sea. They also live in rivers that flow into the Black Sea in Anatolia.
What Silver Bream Look Like
Silver bream are often confused with another fish called the bronze bream. Young silver bream look very similar to young bronze bream. But there are some key differences that can help you tell them apart.
How to Spot a Silver Bream
One easy way to tell them apart is by their scales. Silver bream have larger scales than bronze bream. If you count the rows of scales from the front of their dorsal fin down to their lateral line, silver bream usually have 9 to 11 scales. Bronze bream have 13 or more. Also, silver bream have 44 to 49 scales along their lateral line. Bronze bream have 49 or more, usually well over 50.
Color and Body Shape
As they get older, it becomes much easier to tell the two fish apart. Silver bream keep their bright, shiny silver color throughout their lives. Bronze bream, however, often change color as they grow. They can become dark brown or light yellow.
The biggest silver bream can weigh up to about 1.6 kilograms (3.5 pounds) in good habitats. But usually, most silver bream weigh less than 0.45 kilograms (1 pound). In small ponds, they might not even reach 0.3 kilograms (0.66 pounds).
Differences Between Males and Females
Male and female silver bream have slightly different body shapes. Females are a bit rounder and deeper. They often have a noticeable bulge on their chest. Males are slimmer and flatter. They don't have the chest bulge. A male might only be two-thirds as wide as a female of the same length. This means males weigh less.
The male's head is quite pointed, and his snout looks a little bit upturned. The female's head is rounder with a flatter nose. During the breeding season, male silver bream get small bumps called tubercles on their bodies. Their bellies might turn reddish, and their pectoral and ventral fins can become bright red. Other fins might turn very dark. At the same time, females become very plump and deep-bodied.
Eyes and Fins
Silver bream have very large eyes compared to their heads. This is another way to tell them apart from bronze bream and most other European cyprinids. Their eyes are round and stick out a bit. The colored part of the eye (cornea) is yellowish, and the center (iris) is black. The length of their head is about four times the size of their eye. The depth of their head is more than twice the size of their eye. These measurements stay similar no matter how old the fish is.
In bronze bream, the eye size changes a lot as they grow. Young bronze bream have eyes similar to silver bream. But adult bronze bream have much smaller eyes compared to their head size. Their head length can be six to seven times their eye width.
Silver bream have light pink to bright red pectoral and ventral fins. Their anal fin is clear grey to dark grey. Their deeply forked tail fin and dorsal fin are also grey. The anal fin has 21 to 23 branched rays.
Other Features
Silver bream usually don't have much mucus (slime) on their bodies. If they do, it's only a small amount. Bronze bream, especially young ones, are often very slimy.
