Gudgeon
Gobio gobio
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A small bottom-hugging fish with a barbel at each corner of the mouth and a row of dark blotches.
A small, cylindrical, bottom-dwelling fish with a rounded snout, a single sensory barbel at each corner of the downturned mouth, and a line of dark blue-grey blotches along the flank with speckling on the dorsal and tail fins. Gudgeon live over gravel and sand in the flowing reaches and shallow margins of rivers and lochs around the region.
Behaviour
Gudgeon feed on the bottom, using their barbels to find insect larvae, crustaceans and molluscs in gravel and sand, and are almost always in small shoals. They favour clean gravel and are sensitive to heavy siltation. Spawning is in early summer, when sticky eggs are laid over stones and gravel in the shallows and the males develop small white breeding tubercles on the head.
When to see it
Quick facts
- Family
- Carps and minnows (Cyprinidae)
- Size
- Typically 8–15 cm
- UK status
- Native to Britain; introduced in parts of Scotland
Photo by Viridiflavus, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons