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
The Crab and the Fox their familiar pursuits and take up a business they know nothing about”. The fable appeared in the Medici manuscript in the 15th century and later among those recorded by Roger L'Estrange (1692). In Victorian times the story appeared in George Fyler Townsend’s new translation with the moral “Contentment with our lot is an element of happiness”. Crabs are not a natural food for foxes but anciently they were confused with crayfish and there is a freshwater species of crayfish that is eaten by foxes in the Balkan Danube region. There is in addition a South American Crab-eating Fox about which