Ordinary subust: description, lifestyle, photo

At one time the ordinary aesthetic was a fairly large representative of the Karpov family and in some regions even included in the list of commercial fish. Today, it is extremely rare and almost endangered.

Description

According to the size of the cane should be attributed to small fish. Usually its length is no more than 30 cm, and weight - up to 400 g, but in exceptional cases there are individuals in 1.5 kg. Body elongated, covered with large, densely seated scales. The belly and side of the fish are light silver in color, and only the back is distinguished by its dark green color. Reddish fins are clearly visible, while the caudal has a black border along the upper and lower margins. During spawning, males acquire a more vivid color - in the corners of the mouth, orange spots appear near the pectoral fins. Along the whole body (from the eyes and to the tail) on the sides is a black streak, and on the scales appear the same color small specks. Numerous epithelial tubercles are formed on the head.

He received his name for an unusual position of the mouth. It is under the cartilaginous, noticeably prominent forward nose and has the appearance of a transverse arcuate slit. Pharyngeal teeth large, single-rowed. On the lower pointed jaw there is a horny cheholchik.

Life expectancy averages 8-10 years and largely depends on the conditions in which ordinary stratum inhabits.

Systematics

This species belongs to the Karpov family, the group of the Carpiform group of radiant fishes. Recently, its numbers have decreased noticeably. Of the existing 18 species, common anesthetic is the most common.

Habitat and distribution

This fish prefers a moderate current and does not like standing water. Therefore, it lives most often in deep rivers, where the bottom is sandy, stony, with large irregularities, avoids areas with a slow current. Podust - bottom fish, keeps almost at the bottom, almost touching it with his belly. Particularly fond of places where there are many submerged snags and rocky debris.

It occurs almost in all major European rivers. The most common in Germany and Switzerland. In Russia, it lives in the rivers of the basins of the Baltic, Northern, Black Seas. In the upper reaches of the Kama quite often there is an ordinary podost. In Belarus, its range is limited to the Western Bug and Pripyat river basins.

Lifestyle

This fish forms numerous flocks, consisting of dozens, or even hundreds of approximately equal in size individuals. Podust is unpretentious and very trusting, which makes him an easy prey for anglers. Fish are very attracted to turbidity, you can often observe how they swim almost to the very feet of bathing people. In the mud raised from the bottom and sand they are looking for insect larvae. Often fish come out to the surface (melt) in May-June, when a mass flight of bloodworms takes place. Due to the special arrangement of the mouth, the pod is forced to turn over when the food is seized from the surface of the water, showing a light abdomen. This makes it easy to distinguish the fusion of this fish from others.

Ordinary podust - a fish that leads a daily life. In sunny weather, you can clearly see the long rows of schools standing at the bottom. They are sometimes very numerous. At night, the fish goes to a depth or closer to the shore, hiding in the bushes, which often falls into the fishing bells and baskets.

Very sensitive to the damage to the water. But with a poisonous discharge from riverine plants with a roll, it does not go away, as, for example, minnows do, but hides behind rocks. As a result, almost every summer you can see how on the river in large quantities floats a half-dead podst, pulled by crows and kites.

Food

An ordinary podost, the photo of which is given in this article, being a day-fish, feeds mainly on filamentous algae and detritus. They collect them from stones, snags, piles, skilfully scraping their lips. Big damage causes a spring in the bottom of other fish, eating their fertilized eggs, scraping it off underwater objects. Part of the diet during this period is also dung and earthworms. But with the beginning of the summer the herbivorous fish becomes an ordinary food - the food of it completely consists of river vegetation.

Reproduction

Maturity of these fishes reach at the age of 3-5 years, when the length of their body becomes not less than 18 cm. Caviar of the pods is seen on large stones, piles. This period lasts no more than three days. Eggs are large, whitish in color, their number is from 1,5 to 12 thousand pieces. For some time the podst still holds near the spawning grounds. At this time, he is fed not only by vegetation, but also by the roe of other fish that spawn later, fish: chub, minnow, roach. Sometimes he does not even disdain his own.

After 2 weeks, larvae appear. They live for two months in the water column, feeding on plankton, and becoming fry, go to the bottom way of life, which usually leads an ordinary podost.

Reproduction of it begins in April, but occurs sometimes and at earlier times, it depends on the water temperature - it should warm up to at least 8-10 ° C. Fry appear when it is already warm enough, and spend the whole summer on ruts and shallows with a weak current. In such places usually grows a lot of grass (water pines, silk, etc.), due to which the fish grow quite quickly. In September the young people move to deeper places. By the age of one, the weight of the peristalis is about 60 g, by the autumn it reaches 150-200 g.

Wintering

In the autumn, with the onset of cold weather, the subacute settles in more quiet and quiet places. The lack of plant food forces him to search the silt layer for the blood stream. In October, on sections of rivers with strong currents and rifts, it almost does not occur. The main place where the common cold is spent in winter is deep holes. In them, he hides from November, when the rivers begin to freeze, and until the very spring.

Economic importance

There is no commercial value of the pest. The reason is that recently it almost does not occur in large numbers. In addition, his bottom lifestyles and habitats make it difficult to catch. Most often, the podst becomes a prey for an amateur angler armed with a simple fishing rod. In muzzles and other similar adaptations, he is not particularly eager. But it is difficult to catch a bait too. Few exist among fishermen of such specialists who catch a puff by puds. The cleft of this fish requires a quick cut, and it is quite strong and often breaks down. In addition, requires a good feeding in large quantities.

Meat of the bast is delicious, dietetic, has various useful properties. Cook it immediately after catching fish, because it has the property of very quickly deteriorate.

Security measures

A rare species, whose population has recently been particularly reduced, is the ordinary one. The Red Book of many European countries includes it in the lists of endangered fish. The main reason for the reduction in the number of this species is the contamination of rivers with pesticides, domestic and industrial wastewater. Ordinary podust - a fish that can survive only in very clean water. Therefore, it contributes to the preservation of the cleaning of the riverbed, prevention of siltation of spawning grounds, artificial cultivation of young animals and subsequent release into the water.