| Vimba vimba | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Cypriniformes |
| Family: | Leuciscidae |
| Subfamily: | Leuciscinae |
| Genus: | Vimba |
| Species: | V. vimba |
| Binomial name | |
| Vimba vimba | |
| Synonyms | |
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Vimba vimba, called also thevimba bream,[2]vimba,[2]zanthe,[2] orzarte,[1] is a European fish species in the familyCyprinidae. It largely lives in the sea but makes an annual migration up-river each year to breed.
The vimba bream was at one time classified as abream as it also has a long anal fin, but has now been placed in a different genus. Its body is not as deep as that of the bream. It also resembles theasp but its mouth is small and behind the snout whereas the asp has a large mouth with the lower jaw protruding. This species grows to about 25 to 45 centimetres (9.8 to 17.7 in) with a weight of up to 2 kilograms (4.4 lb). The scales are small and there are about sixty of them along thelateral line. This fish is a deep bluish-green on the dorsal surface and silvery along the flanks. The eyes are yellow and the pectoral and pelvic fins have reddish-yellow bases. The colouring becomes more vivid in the breeding season and males may have theoperculum, base of the fins and the belly turn orange.[3]
Vimba breams move in small shoals along the sea coast, feeding oninvertebrates which they pick from the seabed, and the eggs of other fish. They leave the sea in May or June, swimming upriver to spawn in fast-moving tributaries with stony or gravelly bases and little vegetation. The males prepares several areas of riverbed on which the females deposit batches of eggs.[3]
