Life habits and nutritional value of snakeheaded fish

Tinca tinca belongs to the order Cypriniformes, family Cyprinidae, subfamily Arloideae, and genus Tinca. Commonly known as: black fish. English name: Tench.

The body is tall, the sides are flat, the abdomen is round, and the tail peduncle is short and high. The head is short, the mouth is small, and it is in a terminal position. There is a pair of very short whiskers at the corners of the mouth. The eyes are medium-sized and located on the side of the head. Cheeks narrow. The scales are small, arranged very closely, and have straight lateral lines. The dorsal fin is short, rounded, and has no spines. The second ray of the pelvic fin of sexually mature males is thick. The trailing edge of the caudal fin is slightly concave. The dorsal side of the body is blue-black and the ventral side is yellowish brown; most of the fins are gray-black.

Tench is a bottom-dwelling fish that mostly inhabits water bodies with still cement bottoms. It is highly adaptable to changes in oxygen content in the water and has no strict requirements on water quality. It can also live in water bodies that other fish cannot inhabit. It has strong cold tolerance in winter and can survive the winter in the mud. They do not migrate long distances during reproduction and fattening. In winter, it inhabits the deep water layers of rivers and lakes. Young fish can actively ingest zooplankton after thawing in spring; but soon they become omnivorous, feeding on benthic invertebrates, aquatic insect larvae, molluscs, crustaceans, and decaying plant residues. The feeding intensity is high in summer, but little feeding occurs in winter, leading to a dormant state. The age of sexual maturity is 3-4 years old, and males usually mature earlier than females. The spawning period is from late May to June. Eggs are laid in batches, and the number of eggs carried is about 360,000-400,000. The eggs are small and attached to aquatic plants after being laid.

Tintin was originally distributed in various water bodies on the European continent, and later gradually expanded to Central Asia (east to the Ob and Yenisey rivers in Siberia). In my country, it is currently only found in the Irtysh River and Ulungu River Basins in Xinjiang.

Tench grow slower than carp. The largest individual can reach 70 cm and weigh 7.5 kg. The output is not large, but it can be used as a breeding target in the northern alpine regions.

animal tags： Tench