Unknow fish

[rich ard]

I photo'd this today (without a polarising filter as you can tell!) and wondered if anyone had any idea what kind of fish it is please. There were 30-40 swimming in a back water on a gravel pit nature reserve. Probably 4-6cm long.

Thanks

[ron1863]

Looks a little bit like a Roach, but I'm not too hot on coarse fish

[Stewy]

I reckon it could be a Dace but hard to tell from the pic........

[camo]

Hi

although very thin I would go for Roach.

Roach have red eyes which this one does.
Dace have dark eyes but not red.

Other species it may have been:

Rudd have red eyes but the Dorsal fin is set back from the ventral fin and I am guessing in this case it is level.

Bleak have less scale markings and no colour in eye.

Bream a young Bream would be this shape but again no red in eye.

Chub are wider with a larger mouth.

Roy

[rich ard]

Originally Posted by camo

Hi

although very thin I would go for Roach.

Rudd have red eyes but the Dorsal fin is set back from the ventral fin and I am guessing in this case it is level.

Thank you Ron, Stewy and Roy,

I have since looked at images of Roach and thought that 'mine' did look a bit thin for Rudd.

I was not aware that the dorsal/ventral fin positions were a useful pointer so see below please. Again poor pictures but it looks to me that the dorsal fine is set back a little??

[Hedge Witch]

I think other members will agree when I say that it can be very difficult to ID Rudd/Roach due to the frequency with which hybrids occur.

[camo]

Hi I agree hybrids are common and complicate things.

Rich the new pictures are more clear and I now think they are Bleak. Clearly the red eyes in the first picture was a bit of Red eye rather than an obvious colour. The picture also shows the silver flanks more and the shape of the mouth. A Bleak has a mouth like a minature Herring which allows middle and top feeding. The extreme thinness of the fish is also characteristic of Bleak.

Sorry for changing my mind.

Roy

[coasty]

Its a Roach, Dace are primarily confined to moving water, The eye colour is wrong for a rudd, and although the pics arent great its not right for a bleak because of mouth position,eye colour, scale pattern and look of fins. The behaviour is correct for Roach shoaling in backwaters is typical.

As for hybrids yes they do occur but I dont beleive the occur half so often between roach and rudd as people think.

[rich ard]

Thanks for all the helpful comments.

[diggleken]

Coasty is right with his comments - its a roach.
Ken