Common Bream
Abramis brama
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Deep, slab-sided and bronze, and coated in a slime that comes off on everything.
A very deep-bodied, strongly flattened fish with a small protrusible mouth, a long anal fin and a heavy coating of mucus. Young fish are bright silver; older ones deepen to a rich bronze-brown. Bream live in the deeper, slower, richer waters of the region's lochs and canals, and shoal in large numbers, often rooting over the same patch of bottom for hours.
Behaviour
Bream feed head-down over soft bottoms, extending a telescopic mouth to suck up bloodworm, snails and other invertebrates from the silt — a feeding shoal sends up a distinctive plume of bubbles and coloured water that anglers watch for. They are strongly shoaling and patrol regular circuits. Spawning is noisy and shallow, over weed on warm early-summer nights.
When to see it
Quick facts
- Family
- Carps and minnows (Cyprinidae)
- Size
- Commonly 30–50 cm
- UK status
- Widespread; introduced to much of Scotland
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