Fish id

[Regalis]

I did a bit of pond dipping with my landing net at a local pit and caught some little silver fish.

I noticed they are deep bodied and have iridescent scales (can't really see on the pics). They are only small at around 2".

Would i be correct in thinking they are ....

European bitterling - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

Apparently they were popular as aquarium pets as early as 1920s when they were released in the uk. My county is one of about 3-4 places they are found.

 

[108831]

They look very bitterling like,especially as they look plump and deep,almost adult shape,but in minuture...

 

[Regalis]

Are they rare/ uncommon?

If they are bitterling they must be adult/ sub adult as I don't think they grow big. They were about 2" but I was catching shoals of them around 1-1.5 cm too.

I got some other miniatures too...

 

[108831]

I believe they are more common than we think,but are mistaken for tiny roach in the main,I only once knowingly caught bitterling,but fished the water for years and it was only after a mate told me they were in there that I looked closely....

 

[Regalis]

I known about them in the pit since I was a kid. Never heard anyone else mention them so don't think anyone knows.

I only ever caught them from one swim on the pit as a kid. After dipping on each swim on the pit on Wednesday, nothing and then on that same swim sure enough ....

 

[markcw]

I known about them in the pit since I was a kid. Never heard anyone else mention them so don't think anyone knows.

I only ever caught them from one swim on the pit as a kid. After dipping on each swim on the pit on Wednesday, nothing and then on that same swim sure enough ....

Pickmere Lake is/was full of them.
The Bridgewater canal at Lymm has a few in . That's where I have caught them.
They are lovely little fish.
That looks a good assortment of juvenile fish, it shows the water is healthy and the fish are breeding.

 

[theartist]

Vary rarely see photos of them, I bet we've caught a few between us and tallied them up on the roach total, doh! They do look more roachy than the diagrams you see in books.

I think they need freshwater mussles as lay their eggs in them via an oviposter? and guard the shells whilst they hatch, could be wrong though.

Love thread like this makes you want to go and catch one, or at least try, although location is obviously key, anyone know if they are distibuted nationwide or certain areas?

 

[Regalis]

They are definitely not roach. Looking at the two they are quite different.

They do use mussels to reproduce. The pit is full of huge swan mussels. I remember them holding on to the bait until the got to the surface and then let go.

I will have to buy a fine mesh net and get a pic of the small ones. Lots of 1 - 1.5 cm perch, tench, roach and these. Couldn't take them from the water as they kept dropping through the net. Didn't want to lose them in the grass.

 

[no-one in particular]

I think I would be more likely to dismiss one as a little silver bream, I used to fish a canal with loads of swan mussels in but so may have caught one before. I will take more interest from now on though,

 

[nottskev]

They cropped up one year in the 70's in the Chester basin of the SU canal. Keepnet mesh on cheap nets was pretty wide, then, and they'd swim in now and then.

 

[theartist]

They are definitely not roach. Looking at the two they are quite different.

Yeah I didn't mean your ones are roach, I can see from the original photos that they are Bitterling. However some books I own have them with large carp dorsals when they look from your photos like they have a kind of 'inbetween' dorsal, wider than roach but not as extended as carp. I can see the possibility of putting one back as roach especially with that red eye without another roach for reference.

Love the scale pattern on them, really pretty fish.