Head to head
Bleak vs Roach
Bleak
VS Roach
The bleak and the roach are two silvery shoaling fish of slow European rivers and lakes, often swimming in the same water, and they sometimes interbreed.
| Bleak | Roach | |
|---|---|---|
| Scientific name | Alburnus alburnus | Rutilus rutilus |
| Relationship | A fellow member of the carp family, which can interbreed with the roach | A fellow member of the carp family, which can interbreed with the bleak |
| Body | A long, slim, brilliantly silvery body with a bluish-green back, usually around 12 to 15 cm long | A deep, flat-sided silvery body |
| Fins and eye | Pale fins without the red of the roach | Reddish-orange pelvic and anal fins and, on most fish, a red flush in the iris |
| Mouth | Upturned, suited to feeding at the surface | Forward-pointing, suited to feeding on weed, the bottom, and the water column |
| Feeding | Small insects from the surface, zooplankton, and some algae and plant material | Plant matter, algae, plankton, insect larvae, small snails, and freshwater shrimp |
| Behaviour | Lives in large, active shoals close to the surface, often leaping to catch insects | Gathers in large shoals and tolerates warm water, low oxygen, murk, and moderate pollution |
| Notable fact | Its scales contain a silvery pigment, guanine, once extracted to coat artificial pearls | The classic first catch for beginner anglers, and a central prey fish for pike, perch, zander, and eels |
Bleak vs Roach: common questions
Which one feeds at the surface?
The bleak, which has an upturned mouth suited to snapping up flies and other small insects at the surface.
What did bleak scales make?
Their silvery pigment, guanine, was once extracted and used to make the shimmering coating of artificial pearls.
Do the two species interbreed?
Yes, roach interbreed readily with bleak, rudd, and bream where they share water, and the hybrids can be hard to identify.