Silver Bream

Sometimes mates with the common bream

The aquarium in front of you is full of silvery fish! One of the species is called the silver bream, but it is difficult to distinguish from its close relative, the common bream. One difference between a silver bream and a common bream is that the eyes of an adult silver bream are larger, in relation to their head, than the eyes of an adult common bream. But even experienced fishermen can find it hard to tell the difference. This can be made even more tricky by the fact that silver bream and common bream can interbreed and create hybrids. Usually it is a female common bream and a male silver bream that mate.

Splashy mating

The silver bream lives mainly in freshwater, along the shores of lakes and slow-flowing rivers. It lives where there is a lot of vegetation. It searches the bottom for small animals, using its funnel-like, extendable mouth to root around in the bottom material.

Silver bream may also eat zooplankton swimming in the open water. During the summer, the silver bream spawns (mates) on shallow bottoms with lots of grass. The fish splash around in the water, and it can almost look like the water is boiling! The female lays about 100,000 eggs, which stick to the plants, and hatch after about 1-2 weeks.