Wuchang Bream

The giant wheel bream ( Megalobrama amblycephala ), Chinese团 头 鲂,团 头 鲂,武昌鱼or团 头 鲂, Eng. Wuchang bream, Blunt Snout Bream or Wu Chang Fish, is a very similar habit of the common bream carp fish from China.

Description

The high-backed giant panel bream have a black -gray color on the back and the abdominal underside silvery- white. Some copies have vertical black stripes on the flanks. The fins are colored green gray. Megalobrama amblycephala has the following formula fins: Dorsal 3/7, Anal 3/25-27. The fish can reach a length of up to 2 meters. While the largest with a fishing rod in 1997 -caught specimen from Zhejiang Province weighed only 5.9 kilograms and had a length of about 70 centimeters, Wuchang bream were captured to about 70 kg of commercial fishermen in the Yangtze River.

Distribution and habitat

The giant wheel bream is found in some Chinese waters, such as the Yangtze River, the Newshan Lake ( a bay of Lake Liangzi ) and the Yuli Lake. The fish was also introduced in some regions of Japan and Taiwan, in addition to the Philippines and the Kibbutz Gan Shmuel in Israel. Giant wheel bream prefer deep pools in rivers, calm water sections with slower flow and plenty of aquatic plants. They are found in a number of lowland rivers, reservoirs and lakes.

Way of life

The giant wheel bream preferred water moderates the climate with average water temperatures of 10 to 20 ° C. He usually lives at great depths of five to 20 meters. The fish is herbivorous.

Use

Megalobrama amblycephala is a food fish in China and is held in aquaculture and fish farms where it is fed mainly with soy flour. Chinese geneticists are currently working on the genetic improvement of giant disk bream.