Common bleak small shellfish and plant detritus. It is found in streams and lakes. The bleak prefers open waters and is found in large numbers where there is an inflow of food from pumping stations or behind weirs. The bleak spawns near the shore in shallow waters. Some are found in deep water. The substrate is not important. The bleak is an important food source for predatory fish. It is more sensitive to pollution than other cyprinids, which might explain the decline in North-Western Europe. Bleak are used as bait for sport-fishing for larger fish. In 1656 in Paris, a Mr. Jaquin
Bleak House, Broadstairs in which it is situated. Charles Dickens spent summer holidays at Fort House in the 1850s and 1860s and it was there in that "airy nest" above the harbour that he wrote "David Copperfield". Fort House was dubbed Bleak House in the early part of the 20th century. Somebody asserted that it was the Bleak House referred to in Dickens' 1853 novel, and the name stuck. There has been much dispute over the truth of the claim. Some people believe that the house from which Dickens took his inspiration is far distant from Broadstairs. What can be certain is that