Ide

The ide is a rather plump, sturdily built fish with a deep body, although not especially so. The peduncle of the caudal fin is thick. When they are small ide have dark backs and silvery sides but older fish develop a golden sheen along the flanks. At all ages the eye is yellow and the pectoral fin and anal fin are reddish in colour. The dorsal fin has 3 spines and 8-11 soft rays, the anal fin has 3 spines and 8 - 11 soft rays while the caudal fin has 19 rays. There are 47 vertebrae. It is distinguished from other European members of the genus Leucsicus by the lateral line having 56-58 scales; 3.5-5.3 pharyngeal teeth, in having a terminal mouth and it has branching in 8% of the dorsal rays and 10% of the anal rays. They grow to 25–50 cm in length and the normal weight range is 0.5–1.5 kg and they seldom attain weights of over 2 kg. The European rod caught record is 5.5 kg. There have, however, been reports of ides attaining total lengths of about 100 cm and growing to weights of 8 kg.