Fish Chekhon: description and where it is found, what it looks like, spawning features, sizes
Sabrefish is a freshwater fish that lives in the waters of Eurasia and North America. Since ancient times, this fish has been an important source of food for peoples living near rivers and lakes. Today it is popular in fishing and cooking due to its delicate taste and soft meat texture. In cooking, it is used to prepare a variety of dishes, ranging from simple fried fish cakes to gourmet dishes seasoned with aromatic spices and sauces.
What kind of fish is this
Sabrefish, a member of the carp family, is a common type of freshwater fish. She is known by several names, such as saber, Czech, scythe. This species is found in the Azov, Caspian and B altic waters, it is also abundant in the Black Sea.
Sabrefish is a schooling aquatic inhabitant. In recent years, the saber population has declined significantly, leading to fishing bans in several areas. For example, in 2018 it became illegal to catch sabrefish in the Moscow Region and the capital itself.
What she looks like
The fish has a saber-shaped, slightly curved body with a flat top and a convex belly. Its scales are large and delicate, making it prone to shedding. A lateral line runs along the lower part of the body, resembling a zigzag.
The sabrefish has a rounded head. Its snout and lower jaw are distinctly curved upwards. This type of fish has excellent eyesight. She has large, transparent eyes with a greyish-yellow tint. Life expectancy is no more than thirteen years.
The fins of the sichel are unusual. They are pronounced on the chest of the fish, and the tiny fin on the back is close to the tail. The characteristic anal fin is longer than the dorsal, and its thin part reaches to the very tail.The upper part of the saber has an iridescent brown or blue color, the lower part is pale and silvery, the sides of the same shade. The transparent fins on the back and tail have a grayish tint, while the rest of the fins have a yellowish tint.
The fish has two rows of pharyngeal teeth with small notches that are curved like a hook.
The sabrefish reaches up to 150 cm in length, while being capable of weighing up to two kilograms. But, as a rule, with medium sizes, it usually weighs about five hundred grams.
Habitat
This fish is found in the Gulf of Finland, as well as in the basins of the Azov and Caspian Seas. Chekhon is present in numerous rivers and other freshwater bodies throughout Europe and Asia.
Saber usually lives in deep places of rivers, reservoirs and lakes with running water, especially in their wide sections. The bottom relief should be very uneven, with a lot of crevices.
The fish are very active, especially in warm weather, showing amazing restlessness. Her groups often move along the river or lake and only come to the shoreline to feed.
Expert opinionZarechny Maxim ValerievichAgronomist with 12 years of experience. Our best gardening expert.Ask a QuestionThis fish usually occupies medium depths, avoids places with aquatic vegetation, eschews dirty waters and dares to go to great depths only in the dark. When the temperature drops, she seeks refuge in pools or deep pits.Food
Silverfish are active in the morning and evening looking for their typical prey:
- flying insects;
- zooplankton;
- insect larvae;
- invertebrates, fish fry;
- mosquitoes;
- worms;
- dragonflies.
The sabrefish does not tolerate a sharp drop in water temperature very well, during such periods, as a rule, it eats worse or completely stops eating. The same refusal of food is often encountered during spawning. After the breeding process is over, the silverfish becomes especially voracious. She appears peaceful when mixed with fry without showing any hostility. But then she is able to make a surprise attack on her prey and drag it to the depths.
The diet of young animals usually consists of plankton, insects and larvae that are found in the pond. Adult sabrefish feed on fry and small fish, as well as caviar. This extremely popular species of fish in Russia is characterized by an interesting feature: after they eat their fill, they swim away into the water column, closer to the bottom.
The saber has a special talent - to grab insects that fly over the pond. To do this, she jumps out of the water, grabs her food in the air, and then falls back into the water with a loud splash.
Natural Enemies
Young sabers are preyed upon by predatory fish, including pike, perch and zander, which exterminate their population. Predatory fish also feast during the spawning of sabrefish, as they eat its caviar with pleasure.
Seagulls and other fast-flying water birds grab the sabrefish as it rises to the surface of the water to feast on insects.
This silver fish, like other river inhabitants, is prone to dangerous parasitic diseases.
People are considered the main threat to this fish, as they are responsible for its overfishing with commercial nets. In addition, anglers who are actively catching sabrefish in numerous waters throughout central Russia and beyond are also contributing to the population decline.
Amateur anglers believe that the most effective way to catch sabrefish is a feeder when fishing in deep rivers with a fast current, as well as a spinning rod, float or bottom rod.Worms, flies, dragonflies, butterflies, horseflies and grasshoppers are used as bait, as well as live bait.
The angler must regularly raise the float to attract sabrefish to the line of the float rod. The fish will most likely bite when they feel the movement of the bait, so the morning and afternoon are ideal times to fish, as this is when they are most active and looking for food.
Types of sabrefish
Silver fish come in two varieties: sedentary and semi-anadromous. Apart from the fast growth rate of the semi-passing saber, there are no visible differences between them. Sedentary species stay in the same water body all their lives, forming large groups.
Semi-anadromous fish can exist both in s alty and desalinated sea water, for example, in the Caspian and Aral waters. They leave places like this when it's time to breed.
Fishing lovers appreciate the Azov and Caspian sabers. The Don species is larger than the other two, and its fillet contains more fat. On the other hand, the Volga Czech is smaller in size, and its meat is not as fatty.
The saber, even if it lives in a s alty water environment, breeds only in fresh water. To achieve this, the fish usually have to travel long distances - sometimes even hundreds of kilometers downstream.
How fish breed
With the approach of spring, huge groups of sichel go to their spawning grounds. It occurs between April and June, depending on the region's climate.
A female fish reaches sexual maturity in about three years and weighs at least one hundred grams. The male saber is capable of fertilization at the age of two years. In warm waters, such as the waters of the southern seas and rivers, the Czech matures much faster - within one to two years. In cool northern waters, this period sometimes stretches to four or five years.
Spawning usually takes place over four days at water temperatures between thirteen and twenty degrees Celsius, in places with strong currents, such as shallow waters.
A female sichel is capable of laying a large number of eggs, from ten to one hundred and fifty thousand, depending on age. These eggs are transparent and measure up to two millimeters in diameter. They do not have the ability to stick to rocks and plants found underwater.
Eggs move downstream in oxygen-rich water, which is necessary for their maturation. Female fish move with them.
Baby fish that hatch after three days are carried away by the moving water. As a result, they end up far from where they were originally deposited. On the 10th day, they already begin to consume plankton.
In twelve months, the young growth will increase in size up to ten centimeters. The fish will reach a weight of four hundred grams only at the age of six. Only the largest specimens, reaching 150 cm in length, can weigh about a kilogram.
Sabrefish prefer to spawn at sunrise, when the morning mist settles over the lake. Its spawning behavior is remarkable: the fish often jump out of the water to impressive heights, making loud noises and creating large splashes.
Using fish
Sabrefish is a commercially profitable fish for catching. Usually it is mined in autumn, from late August to September. In addition, there is a second period of commercial fishing in the spring, lasting from April to mid-June, when Czechs gather in huge groups, numbering up to hundreds of thousands of individuals, for migration.
Fishermen use nets to catch sabers. Both floating options with attached buoys and anchored to the seabed are suitable.Also, anglers successfully use live bait, such as worms or beetles. Sometimes seines are also used to catch this type of fish.
Not so long ago, sabrefish were caught in huge quantities, amounting to tens of thousands of centners, in the Azov basin. Since then, however, its production has declined sharply.
Sabrefish is widely used in cooking, medicine and aquarism. Its meat is considered delicacy and nutritious, so it is often used in the restaurant business for cooking. In medicine, czech extract is used to prevent and treat diseases such as arthritis, atherosclerosis, hypertension, heart disease, and others. In the aquarium trade, sabrefish are popular for breeding and keeping in the home aquarium, as their silver color looks attractive. In addition, the saber is used in industry, in particular for the production of animal feed.
What sabre tastes like
Sabrefish is regarded as a he althy food due to its low calorie content. It has an exquisite taste and pleasant smell, while containing a moderate amount of fat. Fish is nutritious - high in protein and amino acids.
Fish is an excellent source of phosphorus, calcium, zinc, chromium, magnesium, molybdenum. It also contains beneficial trace elements such as fluorine and nickel. In addition, the fish is saturated with all B and PP vitamins.
Cake is one of the most popular additions to beer. Among the minuses of the fish is the mass of small bones. Appetizing soups and stews are prepared from the saber, and it is best served with some kind of potato or vegetable side dish. The sichel caviar is also highly valued.
Cooking chefs prepare sabrefish in various ways, such as smoking, fried, s alted, baked or stewed.
Czech dishes should be avoided by those who suffer from individual sensitivities or allergies to fish. You should also refuse dried fish for hypertensive patients and people with kidney diseases.
Cook any river fish, including saber, with care and for a long time, as it is prone to parasitic diseases.
