Over all color silver y, back gr ey and bellypearly-white. Iris silvery, orange or red. Fins light grey,pink or red. Peritoneum silvery with melanophores. Posteriorpart of swim bladder rounded. A pelvic axillaryscale and a scaled keel behind pelvic fins present. Pharyngealteeth with grinding surface, and long, hollowcrown. Gut S-shaped with a small anterior loop. Tubercleon scales and head in both sexes and fine tubercleson fins in males. Gill rakers short, reaching adjacent rakerwhen appressed. Living in rivers, streams, lakes andreservoirs in schools, close to vegetation. Tolerant to salinityfluctuations. Migration in late February. Maximumage 10 years, total length 52 cm and weight 3 kg. Matureat 2-4 year of age and a total length of 15-20 cm. Spawningon stony bottoms or vegetation at 7-17°C. Each femaleaccompanied by 2-3 males. Absolute fecundity upto 202,000 eggs with a diameters of 1.6 mm. Food includephytoplankton, zooplankton and benthic insect larvaein young, and benthic animals, plants and molluscsin adults.