| Order: |
Cypriniformes |
| Family: |
Cyprinidae |
| Genus and species: |
Alburnus alburnus |
William Yarrell (1836) in "A History of British Fishes":
THE BLEAK. BLICK, Merrett.
| Leuciscus |
alburnus, |
Cuvier, Rčgne An. t. ii. p. 276. |
| " |
" |
Bleak, |
Flem. Brit. An. p. 188, sp. 67. |
| Cyprinus |
" |
Linnęus. Bloch, Pt. i. pl. 8, f. 4. |
| " |
" |
Bleak, |
Penn. Brit. Zool. vol. iii. p. 487, pl. 84. |
| " |
" |
" |
Don. Brit. Fish. pl. 18. |
THE BLEAK is a well-known small species inhabiting many of the rivers of Europe, and is found in this country in most, if not all, those which produce the Roach and the Dace. The Thames, the Lea, and the New River produce the Bleak in considerable numbers. They swim in large shoals, spawning in May ; and at that time the head and gill-covers are rough to the touch. Though not of sufficient consequence to claim any attention as an article of food, or at all superior as an eatable, the Bleak affords excellent amusement to young fly-fishers, rising eagerly to almost any small fly, and sporting incessantly on a fine day at the surface of the water. Mr. Jesse, in his Gleanings, says : "But of all the fish confined in a vivarium in Bushy Park, the Bleak were the most amusing and playful. Their activity could not be exceeded ; and it gave me much pleasure to see them, on a still summer's evening, dart at every little fly that settled on the water near them, appearing always restless, and yet always happy."
This fish is frequently found to have the intestines partly occupied by a species of tapeworm. I have taken them out of much greater length than that of the whole fish itself; and the name of Mad-Bleak has been bestowed upon those fish that are seen occasionally swimming in an agitated uneasy manner on the surface of the water; - an unnatural action, not observed to occur in other species, and referred to the annoyance or pain supposed to be produced by these internal disturbers.
On the inner surface of the scales of Roach, Dace, Bleak, Whitebait, and other fishes, is found a silvery pigment, which gives the lustre these scales possess. Advantage has been taken of the colouring matter thus afforded to imitate artificially the Oriental pearl. When this practice was most in fashion, the manufactured ornaments bore the name of patent pearl, and the use was universal in the bead-trade for necklaces, eardrops, &c. At present, it seems confined to ornaments attached to combs, or small beads arranged with flowers for head-dresses. So great was the demand formerly at particular times, that the price of a quart measure of fishscales has varied from one guinea to five. The Thames fishermen gave themselves no trouble beyond taking off the side scales, throwing the fish into the river again ; and it was the custom for hawkers regularly before selling any white-fish, as they were called, to supply the beadmakers with the scales.
The method of obtaining and using the colouring matter was, first carrying off the slime and dirt from the scales by a run of water ; then soaking them for a time, the pigment was found at the bottom of the vessel. When thus produced, small glass tubes were dipped in, and the pigment injected into thin blown hollow glass beads of various forms and sizes. These were then spread on sieves, and dried in a current of air. If greater weight and firmness were required, a further injection of wax was necessary. Of this pigment, that obtained from the scales of Roach and Dace was the least valuable ; that from the Bleak was in much greater request ; but the Whitebait afforded the most delicate and beautiful silver, and obtained the highest price, partly from the prohibitory regulations affecting the capture of this little fish, the difficulty of transmission, and rapid decomposition.
This art of forming artificial pearls is said to have been first practised by the French. Dr. Lister, in his Journey to Paris, says, that when he was in that city, a manufacturer used in one winter thirty hampers of Bleak. Our term Bleak, or Blick, according to Merrett, which has reference to the whiteness of the fish, is derived from a Northern word, which signifies to bleach or whiten.
In a specimen seven inches long, the length of the head compared to the length of the head and body, without including the caudal rays, was as two to nine ; the depth of the body compared in the same way was as one to four : but in a younger male specimen of five inches long, the depth of the body was only equal to the length of the head ; and both measurements, therefore, were as two to nine. In the large specimen, the body was Dace-like in form and general appearance, but immediately distinguishable by the backward position of the dorsal fin, and the greater length of the base of the anal fin ; the body elongated, the abdominal line rather more convex than the line of the back ; the nose pointed ; the under jaw the longest ; the eye rather large : the scales, beautifully striated, of moderate size, the number making up the series on the lateral line about forty-seven ; above it, to the base of the dorsal fin, six ; and below it, to the origin of the ventral fin, four: the dorsal fin commences half-way between the anterior edge of the eye and the end of the short central rays of the tail ; the first ray is but one-third of the length of the second ray, which is the longest in the fin ; the base of the fin as long as the sixth ray : the anal fin commences, in a vertical line, under the origin of the last ray of the dorsal fin, and occupies half the space between its commencement and the end of the fleshy portion of the tail ; the first ray not half as long as the second, which is the longest ; the base of the fin one-third longer than its longest ray : the caudal rays elongated, and deeply
forked. The fin-rays in number are -
D. 10 : P. 17 : V. 9 : A. 18 : C. 19.
The colour of the back is a light greenish or ash brown tinged with blue ; the sides, belly, cheeks, and gill-covers shining silvery white ; the irides silvery, in large sized specimens
tinged with yellow ; all the fins nearly white.
Frank Buckland (1880) in "Natural History of British Fishes":
BLEAK.
(Alburnus lucidus. Leuciscus alburnus. Cyprinus alburnus.)
Local names: Blick, Bleik, Bleis, Blaze, Willow Blade. French: L' Ablette. German:
Weissfisch, Albe Marienfisch. Welsh: Corwyniad. Danish: Lojer. Swedish:
Loja. Italian: Avola.
A VERY elegant and useful little fish of great activity. He frequents the fastest streams, swimming gracefully on the surface of the water. This pretty little fish is particularly active in sunny weather; he is a great eater of flies, and almost anything, animal or vegetable, that comes down with the stream.
A good way to catch him is with a fine hair line and small hook, baited with a common fly, piece of fat bacon, or a very small artificial gnat. Bleak are very common at the months of sewers, and when inspecting the Severn at Shrewsbury, I went to the mouth of a sewer to see what effect it was having on the river. The water was ink-black from the waste dye from a manufactory, and was so warm that steam was seen on the surface of the water. The bleak were here in vast shoals feeding on the midges hatched out by the warm water. It was satisfactory to find from the presence of the bleak that this particular pollution could not be very injurious to salmon life.
Immense numbers of bleak can be seen at Oxford, at the point where the town sewer joins the Thames near Folly Bridge. This terrible stream goes by the appropriate name of "Pactolus." These little fishes do an immense amount of unpaid labour. I am surprised that the Oxford authorities allow the Thames to be polluted to the detriment of the health of the town's people and members of the University.
I have long known that bleak scales were largely used in the manufacture of pearls, but had the greatest difficulty in getting any satisfactory particulars about this curious manufacture in which the ladies are so much interested. My friend Mr. Sachs, jeweller, of 22, Hyde Park Place, Marble Arch, with his usual kindness, took a great deal of trouble in the matter, and after due investigation he sent this valuable and interesting article, which I published in Land and Water August 10, 1878, No. 655.
ARTIFICIAL PEARLS -- HOW MADE FROM THE SCALES OF BLEAK.
In a previous number of Land and Water, Mr. Frank Buckland asked some kind friend to instruct him in the art of making imitation pearls. I beg to inform him that in the Exhibition held in Hyde Park in 1862 a Frenchman made an excellent display of such wares, also bottles containing liquid fish scales, glass beads, &c., showing the whole process of manufacture; he very artfully placed a row of large real and imitation pearls alternately, and without close inspection it would not have been possible for a judge to have selected the real from the unreal. I herewith send some Roman made pearls and some of the modern French, which latter you will see are very fine. The old Roman pearls consist of white wax beads covered with nacre, or pearly lustre. The cheap French pearls are glass balls filled with white wax ; the better and patented sort are opalescent glass beads filled with gum mastic, these being the finest imitation of the Oriental pearl, almost as heavy, and always look and wear the same. Not so the Roman wax pearls ; they in time lose their nacre and in a heated room are apt to stick to the skin.
As it will no doubt interest your readers, the ladies in particular, to learn how these mock pearls are manufactured, I give the following translation from Dieulafait's book on diamonds, pearls, and precious stones, 1874 :
"False pearls, are little hollow spheres of glass covered internally with a coating imitating the orient of natural pearls. Their fabrication comprehends two series of operations - the production of the sphere, and the introduction of the coating. The spheres are pro-duced by the glass-blower, who by aid of an enameller's lamp, solders the extremity of a tube having the proper diameter, and blows into the tube when the substance is of the right consistency. In this way very regular little spheres are obtained, that serve for the composi-tion of the ordinary quality of false pearls.
"In pearls of great beauty the tube employed is slightly opalescent, and the glass-blower, besides, gives to the little spheres, while they are yet malleable, certain slight perceptible inequalities of surface, by gently tapping them with a small iron bar. This gives them a yet greater resemblance to natural pearls, which are very seldom absolutely regular.
"No mention is made in ancient writers of artificial pearls being made, and it is not till we come down to the beginning of the sixteenth century that we find Venice had then established a reputation for this branch of industry.
"At first the glass balls were filled with various materials, generally with a base of mercury. But in the year 1680 a rosary maker, named Jacquin, conceived the idea of using, in the place of this mercurial mixture, a harmless substance that produced an infinitely more perfect colour.
"This substance, the essence of orient, is formed from the scales of the bleak, or ablette, a little white fish which abounds in the Seine, the Marne, and the Loiret.
"The fishes are rubbed rather roughly in pure water contained in a large basin; the whole is then strained through a linen cloth, and left for several days to settle, when the water is drawn off. The sediment forms the essence of orient. It requires from 17,000 to 18,000 fish to obtain about a pound of this substance.
"The scaly substance is liable to decompose quickly, and numerous chemical agents are employed by different manufacturers to preserve it. These means are kept a secret, but it is known that liquid ammonia, or the volatile alkali, is one of the substances most commonly used.
"The process of colouring the pearl is commenced by lining the interior of the ball with a delicate layer of perfectly limpid and colourless parchment glue, and before it is quite dry the essence of orient is introduced by means of a slender glass blow-pipe. It is then allowed to dry; the pearl is filled with wax, and, if intended for a necklace, is pierced through the wax with a red-hot needle."
From a German book on precious stones, &c., by Kluge (1860), I translate the following:
"The art of making imitation pearls is ascribed to one Jacquin, a chaplet and rosary manufacturer at Passy, 1680. Noticing the water after cleaning some white fish (Leuciscus alburnus), a species of dace, was of a silvery appearance, he gradually collected the sediment, and with this substance (to which he gave the name of essence d'orient), and with a thin glue made of parchment, he lined the glass beads, and afterwards filled them with wax. The method of making the round bead is by heating one end of a glass tube and blowing into it two or three times, which then expands into a globular form. The workman then separates the bead, places the end which has been heated on a wire, and heats the other end. This process is called bordering or edging. The best pearls are made in the same way, the holes of the tubes being gradually reduced by heat to the size of those of the real pearls, the workman taking each bead on an inserted wire, and, by continually turning them round in the flame of the lamp used, they become so true as to be strung as evenly as the Oriental pearls. The lamp used is similar to a glassblower's foot-bellows apparatus, and the work is always done by lamp-light, daylight being unsuitable. Seven pounds' weight of fish scales give one pound of essence d'orient."
Some fifty years since the French were large purchasers of bleak scales from our Thames fishermen; they now supply themselves from their own rivers. The value of their export is over 1,000,000 francs annually, besides the fabulous quantity used in France.
Alwyne Wheeler (1969) in "The Fishes of the British Isles and North West Europe":
Bleak
Alburnus alburnus (Linnaeus, 1758)
NAMES Fr. Ablette; Du. Alever; Ge. Laube; Da. Lųje; Sw. Loja.
IDENTIFICATION Slim bodied, rather slender silvery fishes. The head is small, the mouth superior and the lower jaw prominent, but the corners of the mouth do not extend beyond the front edge of the eye. Seventeen to twenty-two long gill rakers on the first gill arch. The anal fin is long, its first ray directly beneath the last three dorsal rays. The scales are large, usually shiny and easily detached. There is a sharp, scaleless keel between the pelvics and the anal fin. It grows to 8 in (20 cm), but is usually between 4¾ and 6 in (12-15 cm).
The back and sides are blue or green, and the belly brilliant silver. The overall impression is of a silvery fish. The fins are light grey, white ventrally, with occasionally an orange tinge.
D. III/8-9; A. III/16-20; scales in lateral line 48-55, transverse series 7-9/3-4; pharyngeal teeth in two rows, usually 2 + 5 each side (Fig. 69).
BIOLOGY The bleak is a gregarious fish, living in clean slow-running or still water, and even in brackish conditions. It is a pelagic fish, always to be found near the surface except when heavy spates occur, when it retires to sheltered deeps. It eats mainly planktonic animals and aerial insects, but also some bottom-living insects and even young fish and fish spawn.
Spawning takes place from April to June, when the temperature has reached 15°C (59°F); the eggs are shed on stony or gravelly shallows or on the vegetation near by. Spawning is said to be intermittent in lakes in eastern Europe. Males develop white tubercles on the head and back, and the bases of the lower fins are orange tinted at spawning time. The eggs are 1.5 mm in diameter and adhere to the stones, hatching in fourteen to twenty-one days; the alevin is 2 to 4 mm long on hatching. Growth has been estimated as follows: first year, 1½ in (4.2 cm); second year, 3 in (7.6 cm); third year, 4¼ in (10.7 cm); fourth year, 4¾ in (12.0 cm); fifth year, 5 in (12.5 cm); sixth year, 5¾ in (14.7 cm). Bleak rarely live longer than seven years. Maturity probably occurs in the second year, but this has not been established with certainty.
The bleak has very little importance as an angler's fish, except perhaps as a bait. Its indirect importance is, however, considerable, as in certain waters by virtue of its abundance it provides much food for the more highly valued predators, pike, perch and occasionally trout. In eastern Europe it is commercially exploited for the sake of its scales, which are used in the preparation of artificial pearls. This fishery also provides byproducts in the form of fertiliser and animal food. In some areas it is eaten; its flesh is palatable, if somewhat bony.
DISTRIBUTION
Eastwards to the Caspian basin. A related species, A. albidus (Costa, 1838), in northern Italy and the Adriatic basin.