''Vimba vimba'', called also the vimba bream, vimba, zanthe, or zarte, is a European fish species in the family

Cyprinidae Cyprinidae is a family of freshwater fish commonly called the carp or minnow family. It includes the carps, the true minnows, and relatives like the barbs and barbels. Cyprinidae is the largest and most diverse fish family and the largest verte ...

. It largely lives in the sea but makes an annual migration up-river each year to breed.

Description

The vimba bream was at one time classified as a bream 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 the

asp Asp may refer to: Places * Asp, part of Densbüren, Aargau, Switzerland * Aspe (''Asp'' in Valencian), Alicante, Spain * Asp Lake, a lake in Minnesota Animals * Asp (fish) * Asp (snake), in antiquity, one of several venomous snakes ** ''Cera ...

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 with a weight of up to . The scales are small and there are about sixty of them along the

lateral line The lateral line, also called the lateral line organ (LLO), is a system of sensory organs found in fish, used to detect movement, vibration, and pressure gradients in the surrounding water. The sensory ability is achieved via modified epithelial ...

. 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 the operculum, base of the fins and the belly turn orange.

Distribution

''Vimba vimba'' is distributed in fresh waters and in brackish estuaries of rivers draining to the Caspian Sea, Black Sea and Baltic Sea, and in the North Sea basin in the Elbe and Ems drainages. There are records from Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Hungary, Iran,

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

, Moldova, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Russia,

Serbia and Montenegro Serbia and Montenegro ( sr, Cрбија и Црна Гора, translit=Srbija i Crna Gora) was a country in Southeast Europe located in the Balkans that existed from 1992 to 2006, following the breakup of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yu ...

, Slovakia,

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

, Turkey, North Macedonia, and Ukraine. The vimba bream is a semi-

anadromous Fish migration is mass relocation by fish from one area or body of water to another. Many types of fish migrate on a regular basis, on time scales ranging from daily to annually or longer, and over distances ranging from a few metres to thousan ...

fish, which migrates from brackish water to rivers for spawning. Permanently fresh-water populations exist as well. In the Baltic Sea the species is distributed up to 62°-63° N in Sweden and Finland.

Behaviour

Vimba breams move in small shoals along the sea coast, feeding on invertebrates 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. In Lithuania, there is a festival each year along the shore of the

Neman River The Neman, Nioman, Nemunas or MemelTo bankside nations of the present: Lithuanian: be, Нёман, , ; russian: Неман, ''Neman''; past: ger, Memel (where touching Prussia only, otherwise Nieman); lv, Nemuna; et, Neemen; pl, Niemen; ...

to celebrate the arrival of the fish.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q247370 Vimba Fish described in 1758 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Freshwater fish of Europe Fish of Europe Taxonomy articles created by Polbot