Common bleak extracted from the scales of the common bleak, so-called "Essence Orientale" or "pearl essence", (used in making artificial pearls) which is crystalline guanine. Common bleak The common bleak ("Alburnus alburnus") is a small freshwater coarse fish of the cyprinid family. The body of the bleak is elongated and flat. The head is pointed and the relatively small mouth is turned upwards. The anal fin is long and has 18 to 23 fin rays. The lateral line is complete. The bleak has a shiny silvery colour; and the fins are pointed and colourless. The maximum length is approximately 25 cm. In
Bleak Expectations series, titled "A Pleasant Yet Dull Life Re-Evilled", was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 at 6.30pm on 20 November 2012. "The Bleak Old Shop of Stuff", a televisual spiritual successor to "Bleak Expectations", written and produced by the same crew, was first broadcast on BBC Two on 19 December 2011. A novel of "Bleak Expectations" written by Mark Evans was published in November 2012 by Constable & Robinson. While it is clear from the general context that Bleak Expectations is set in the 19th Century, there are various references to real-life people and events, suggesting the following chronology: November 1805: