Silver y on flanks and belly and back steel-greyto pale olive. Back scales circled with black. Belly pearlywhite.Iris silvery, with some spots. Peritoneum light. Apelvic axillary scale present. Gill rakers very short, hardlyreaching one below when appressed. Pharyngeal teethcrowns rounded above a slender stalk. Gut relatively shortand S-shape. Females larger than males. Large breeding tubercleson top of head, snout and upper flank scales. Twospawning migrations, one in spring (March-April) and theother in fall (September-October). Spawning in rivers inMarch and April. Each female flanked by two males atspawning in shallow water. Maximum age 9 years, totallength 67 cm and weight 7 kg. Maturity at 3-4, sometimes 2years. Sex ratio 1.3males:1female. Absolute fecundity up to290,000 eggs with a diameter of up to 2 mm. Eggs depositedon plants or stones. Food mostly include plankton andalgae in juveniles, and molluscs, plants, worms, fish eggsand sometimes small fishes in adults.