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| Recognition | There are two species of bream, the silver ( Blicca Bjoerkna ) and the bronze ( Abramis Brama ). Here we will deal with the bronze bream as its more widly spread and it is the larger of the two. It is more sort after by anglers than the silver. The Bronze Bream, until it grows to around 3lb in weight, is silver with black fins, much like the silver bream. When it exceeds 3lb its colour changes to a bronze or light golden hue. Bream are a deep, flat-sided fish with a hump back and are often covered with mucous. It is a bottom feeder with protuberant lips. |
| British record | 18lb 8oz |
| Location | Bream can be found in most waters from small lakes to rivers and lochs although they don’t generally like fast water they can be found in the deeper, slacker areas of rivers. |
| Behaviour | Bream move around in large shoals near the lake/river bed |
| Preferred Habitats | Bream are very adaptive to their surroundings but prefer enriched mud or silt covered gravel. |
| Best Feeding Times | Bream tend to feed more at night in the summer but will be more inclined to feed during the daylight hours in winter. On average a bream will eat about 7% of its body weight a day |
| Natural Food | Molluscs, Crustacea, Invertebrates (i.e. blood worms) |
| Maturity | Male and Female 4 – 6 years |
| Spawning Times | May – June |
| Preferred Spawning Areas | Weed beds, fine sand and gravel beds |
| Fecundity | 150,000 – 300,000 eggs per kg of body weight |
