Shapal is a widespread medium-sized fish from the carp family. A characteristic feature of shad has a large head, flattened at the top, with a broad and flat forehead. Shapala is one of the most popular fishing targets in summer rivers. He's a strong fighter that's fun to tackle with light tackle. Let's try to get to know this fish more closely and find out how this fish lives in our rivers.

What does shad look like?

Shapal is an extremely beautiful fish. It has a strong, elongated cylindrical body, slightly compressed laterally and gradually narrowing towards the tail. The shape of the body immediately shows that it swims well in the current.

The head of the shad is much larger than that of many other fish. Slightly flattened from above, has a wide and flat forehead.

He has large, shiny, yellowish eyes. There is a brownish-yellow spot in the upper part of the eye.

The back and sides of the shapal are covered with large scales that are firmly attached to the body. The scales are old silver with a slight golden tint. The lateral line is almost straight, but is slightly bent towards the belly nearer the head. The back is dark, almost black, with a slight shade of dark green, blue or purple.

Age and size

The average size of shad usually reaches 1-1.5 kg, and the length is 35-40 cm. In some large rivers, it can reach 4 kg, and sometimes more.

Shapal grows relatively slowly, at the age of 3 it weighs only about 150 g, at 6-7 years it reaches a weight of 500 grams, and at 9-10 years it weighs 1 kg. Growth rate depends on food base and water temperature.

The maximum lifespan is about 20-25 years, but only units reach this age.

What sections of the river do the shad prefer?

Shapal is sensitive to water cleanliness and oxygen saturation, so it lives in rivers with both medium and fast flows. They practically do not live in bodies of stagnant water.

Most often live in the upper reaches of the river than in the lower reaches or near the mouth. Mountain-type rivers are more common in the middle and lower reaches of the river.

In the river, shad prefer places with a fast current, a hard sandy or stony bottom, steep banks or banks covered with bushes and trees. Avoids muddy areas.

Favorite places on the river:

• Overfalls, above or below it, in relatively calm, deeper areas, hiding behind some cover
• On a sandy, stony or simply uneven bottom
• Limits of fast and reverse currents
• Rapid sections of rivers
• Sections of the river with trees and bushes hanging over the water

What does shad eat?

Shapal can be called an omnivorous fish. Young shad feed mainly on insects and plant matter. Adult large shad also feed on plant foods and insects, but their diet is increasingly dominated by fish fry and other animal foods. Shapalas are very fond of weevils, dragonflies, and grasshoppers.

Shapal feeds on the fruits and seeds of plants growing on the banks of rivers and falling from them into the water or washed into the river by rains. Likes cherries, raspberries, gooseberries, blackberries, currants, sunflowers, plums, corn and peas.

Reproduction

It becomes sexually mature at the age of 2-3 years, at which time it weighs only 100-200 grams. Spawning begins when the water warms up to 12-17 degrees. It happens at different times in different regions. Spawning lasts 4-7 weeks.

Shapal spawns in the vicinity of its permanent habitat. For spawning, it chooses shallow places, with an average current and a hard stony bottom.

For spawning, shad leave in stages, the first to spawn are large individuals, which do not spawn for the first time. Young fry, participating in spawning for the first time in their lives, spawn a little later when the water is warmer. There are approximately twice as many females as males in the spawning grounds. From the shore, you can clearly see the fish spawning, they stick their backs out of the water and make a lot of noise with their splashes. After one group spawns, it leaves, and after a while another comes to replace it. After spawning, they retire to deep places and recover their strength there, and do not eat at all for a while. After resting and regaining strength, after a week they start eating intensively.

Depending on size, a female can lay between 10,000 and 200,000 eggs. The eggs are small, the size of a poppy, bright orange. A considerable part of the eggs laid by shad are carried away by the current. The rest of the eggs are eaten by other fish.

Fry develop from eggs in 5-7 days. After hatching, the fry stay close to the shore, in quiet places or hide among aquatic vegetation.

Shapal fry feed on zooplankton. Closer to autumn, fry gather in flocks that can reach up to several hundred fish and go to the depths for wintering.

Shapalas in cooking

Fish meat has a high nutritional value: 125-130 kcal per 100 grams. Shapal meat is considered a dietary product because it is high in protein (17.8%) and low in fat (5.6%). It has a balanced composition of vitamins and minerals, contains a lot of phosphorus, potassium, sodium and calcium, and is rich in vitamins A, B1, B5, B6, B9, B12. Shapal meat is easily digestible and does not slow down metabolic processes.

Shapala is a fairly bony fish, whose meat emits a somewhat specific smell of river mud, for some this smell is very unpleasant.

You can get rid of the smell of sludge by marinating the fish in vinegar or lemon juice with spices.