THE TENCH - Tinca tinca
The tench is another member of the carp family. A hot favourite with many anglers,and was once believed to have mystical powers, the tenches slime was thought to have medical properties. Other fish would rub up against them and be cured of any illness.
In the middle ages tench slime was believed to cure headaches, toothaches, jaundice and many other ailments. The colours of the tench is normally a dark olive green back and sides,with a lighter golden olive belly and their is also an ornamental golden variety. The tench almost feed exclusively on the bottom rooting around in the mud for blood worm, larvae, worms, snails and other insects as they root about in the mud.
They often release marsh gas which then filtered through the gill rakes,causes them to come to the surface in small strings of pin head bubbles which gives the angler a sure tell tail sign that tench are feeding.
Though found in rivers,they thrive better in still waters and cannel’s and are highly tolerant to low oxygen levels. Tench are easier to tell the differace betwen sexses and this is found in the shape of the the pelvic fins those of the male fish beingheavier, more solidly constructed, than those of the female. When spread out sideways, the males have a distinct hump just in front of the fins this hump is the external reflection of differences in skeleton structure between the sexes.
Tench spawn between may and august, when water temperatures are more constant at 18 degrees centigrade or above, and can lay up to 750,000 pale green eggs in clusters, attached to water plants, reeds and weeds.
The eggs hatch about five days later,were they stay attached to the plants by there head, until the egg sack is consumed. Then they will search and feed on water fleas and small aquatic insects until large enough to feed on larger foods. A specimen tench is 7lb (3.2kg) and a fish of a life time being about 10lb.
