Back light gr ey, flanks silver y and bellywhitish. Fins speckled and turn black in spawning fish.Scales on back and flanks with a broad band of pigmentposteriorly. A dark line along mid-line of back. Peritoneumsilvery with some scattered melanophores. Pelvic axillaryscale present. Gill rakers mostly rudimentary androunded, reaching adjacent raker when appressed. Pharyngealteeth with tips strongly hooked and withoutridges. Gut elongate and S-shape. A horny pad on jaws inmales and females, during spawning and strong, sharptubercles in males. Prefers well-vegetated areas instreams, rivers, and ponds. Resistant to pollution and 4-30ºC. Maximum age 5 years and total length 12 cm. Maturityat 1-2 years. Reproduction in May-August at 16°Cor higher. Absolute fecundity up to 5000 elliptical adhesiveeggs of up to 2.5 mm in diameter. Spawning on lowersurfaces of stones and empty molluscs shells. Intermittentspawner with up to 85 eggs per batch. Eggs protectedby males. Food include zooplankton, aquatic insects,detritus, plants, eggs and fish fry.