Bleak
Alburnus alburnus
Tench
Tinca tinca
About
The tench is a stocky, slow-moving fish that hides in weedy lakes and quiet backwaters. It can grow to 70 cm and weigh up to 7.5 kg, though most divers will see much smaller fish tucked among the plants.
Also known as: tinca tinca, doctor fish, doctor-fish, eurasian tench, green tench
- Length
- 20 cm · max 70 cm
- Weight
- max 7.5 kg
- Depth
- up to 50 m
- Temperature
- 4–24 °C
How to tell it apart
It looks like a small carp at a glance, but a carp has two barbels on each side of its mouth while the tench has only one. The tench's tail fin is also square-cut, not forked like a carp's.
Appearance
This fish has a thick, deep-bodied shape like a small carp, with olive-green skin that turns almost golden on its belly. Its fins are rounded, and its small eyes are a striking red-orange. A tiny barbel, a short whisker-like feeler, sits at each corner of its narrow mouth. The skin is thick and very slimy, covering scales so small they are hard to see.
Habitat
The tench lives in still or slow water with a soft, muddy bottom and thick plant growth, in lakes, ponds, and canals. It avoids clear water over stone or gravel and fast-flowing streams. It copes well with low oxygen levels, in water from 4 to 24 degrees C, and often rests near the bottom by day, feeding more at night.
Is it dangerous?
harmless
Did you know?
Old folklore called the tench the 'doctor fish', believing its thick slime could cure other sick fish that rubbed against it.
Log it in Into the Blue
Describe what you saw and we name it, then keep every species you find in your Oceandex.
