Freshwater Fish

Dace (Common)

livelinkadmin — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 15:31:25 +0100

The Common Dace is a lively and active scaly fish that is also known as the Dare and the Dart. It is called the Dart because it can swim very fast. It is a freshwater fish that can be found throughout England in clean and deep fast-flowing rivers, like the River Hodder and the River Calder. It can also be found in brackish water. Brackish water is freshwater that meets with saltwater.

The Common Dace is about thirty to forty centimetres in length and weighs around one kilogramme. It has quite a pointed head, two large black eyes and a small mouth. Its head and back are a dusky blue colour and the sides have a silver sheen to them. The underside of this fish is white. It has a fin on its back called the ‘dorsal’ fin which is a whitish colour with a bluish tinge. It also has white ‘ventral’ fins and white ‘pectoral fins, but they are tinged with pale red. The ventral fins are on the underside of the fish near to the rear end and the pectoral fins are situated at the front of the body.

In the summer months Common Dace tend to eat near to the surface of the water where they can find mayflies, caddis flies and beetles. In winter they prefer to look for worms and snails near to the river bed. Sometimes they eat algae and water weeds. Common Dace swim in large groups called shoals.

Eel (European)

livelinkadmin — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 16:15:36 +0100

The European Eel is also known as the European Freshwater Eel. It can survive in both freshwater and saltwater, although it spends most of its life in freshwater. It can be found in streams, lakes and estuaries throughout England.

European Eels may spend up to twenty years in our freshwaters before returning to the Sargasso Sea where they began their lives. Once they arrive there, they lay their eggs on the sea floor and then die shortly afterwards. As soon as the young eels hatch out of the eggs, they rise to the surface and drift in the open sea for about three years. During this period the eels are almost transparent and are called ‘Glass Eels’.

By the time the eels arrive on our shores, they are a faint yellowy brown colour and about seven centimetres in length. At this stage the eels are known as ‘elvers’. As they start to swim up our rivers the elvers develop yellow underbodies. Their underbodies change to a silver colour and their backs gradually darken to an olive-green or a brown-black colour as the eels get older. European Eels grow very slowly and very rarely reach over a metre in length.

Perch

livelinkadmin — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 15:32:48 +0100

The Perch is also known as the European Perch and the Redfin Perch because its fins have orange-red markings on them. It is a freshwater fish that can be found throughout the country in slow-flowing rivers, deep lakes and large ponds which have lots of water weeds. The Perch swims with other Perch and with other species of fish in a large group called a ‘school’. The school can be as large as twenty to three hundred.

The Perch usually grows about forty-five centimetres in length and weighs around ten kilogrammes. It has an oval-shaped body and as it grows bigger and bigger it develops a hump on its back. Its back is a dark olive colour and its sides are a golden colour with about five dark vertical lines running down the sides of its body. The Perch has two fins on the top of its body and these fins are called ‘dorsal’ fins. The dorsal fin at the front is made up of sharp spines. The Perch has rough scales all over its body and it has two large black eyes.

The Perch often keeps very still in shady parts of the water where there are water weeds, but although it lurks motionless, it can still catch food very quickly. It feeds on crustaceans, worms, insect larvae and small fish. Sometimes it even eats small Perch.

Pike

livelinkadmin — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 15:33:40 +0100

The Pike is a quite a large freshwater fish that has an almost duck-like looking snout. It can be found throughout the country in canals, lakes and slow-flowing rivers which have a lot of vegetation. This fish tends to hide amongst water weeds waiting for any prey to pass by and will even attack a smaller or weaker Pike and eat it. Sometimes the Pike can be found in brackish water. Brackish water is freshwater that meets with saltwater.

The male Pike is usually a metre long and the female is larger with a length of one and a half metres. The Pike can be very variable in colour because its body colour depends in which waters it lives. It can be olive-green, yellow-green, brown or grey with irregular rows of lines on the top part and the sides of its body. The rows of lines can be yellow, white, blue-green or grey. However, the most recognisable features of this Pike are its long slender body, its yellow and black coloured eyes and its long almost duck-like snout.

Pikes are predator hunters that can stay really still for hours amongst water weeds waiting for prey to pass by and when they do see prey, they can move very quickly. Pikes mainly eat fish, but they also eat frogs, water voles, crayfish and ducklings.

Roach

livelinkadmin — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 15:34:32 +0100

The Roach is also known as the Redfin because it has orange-red coloured eyes and orange-red coloured lower fins. It is a small common freshwater fish that can be found throughout England in canals, freshwater lakes and slow-moving rivers. It can also be found in brackish water. Brackish water is freshwater that meets with saltwater.

The Roach is a slow-moving fish that is around ten to twenty-five centimetres in length. It has a scaly silver-grey body which has a bluish tint to it. It has a small fin on its back called a ‘dorsal’ fin and the edge of this fin looks like it has a fine blue line around it. Its tail is fork-shaped with a yellowy sheen to it.

Roach are more active at dusk when it starts to get light in the morning and at dusk when it starts to get dark in the evening. They eat both plant and animal matter such as water weeds and water plants, insect larvae, small insects and small molluscs. Roach like to live in cool water which is approximately ten degrees Celsius and they swim in a group called a shoal.

Trout (Brown)

livelinkadmin — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 15:35:07 +0100

Brown Trout are very interesting fish because some Brown Trout live in freshwater all their lives, while other Brown Trout migrate to the sea and return to the rivers they were born in when they want to spawn. Brown Trout that migrate to sea are commonly known as ‘Sea Trout’ and it is not really clear why some of these fish go to sea, while others don’t. Brown Trout can be found throughout England in clean cool rivers, streams and lakes which have quite a lot of oxygen. They are shy and wary fish that try to hide under cover as much as possible.

The Brown Trout is a beautiful-looking fish that is approximately fifty centimetres in length and weighs around two kilogrammes. It usually has a greenish brown body and the top part of its body is speckled with lots of black and red spots. Some of the black and red spots have white circles around them. The Brown Trout also has a pale yellow coloured belly. It can also change its body colour to match its surroundings.

Brown Trout can be very territorial and the largest and strongest trout often takes the best position in the water where there is plenty of food. Brown Trout eat flying insects and land insects which have fallen into the water. They also feed on water boatmen, freshwater shrimps, worms and small fish such as young trout and salmon.