science

List of fishes of the River Trent

List of fishes of the River Trent is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand List of fishes of the River Trent rather than just read about it. In short: This list of fishes of the River Trent includes fish species which have been recorded from the River Trent, a major river in England that starts in Staffordshire, flows through the Midlands, and joins the River Ouse to form the Humber Estuary. The impressive diversity of fish species in this river has been known (and celebrated) since 1590, with poetry containing the earliest mention that the Trent contains 30 kinds…

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Reference excerpt

This list of fishes of the River Trent includes fish species which have been recorded from the River Trent, a major river in England that starts in Staffordshire, flows through the Midlands, and joins the River Ouse to form the Humber Estuary. The impressive diversity of fish species in this river has been known (and celebrated) since 1590, with poetry containing the earliest mention that the Trent contains 30 kinds of fish. The earliest actual list of fish in the river is from 1641. Over the centuries some species have since become locally extinct, and other species have been introduced.

Earliest literary references In 1590, Edmund Spenser in The Faerie Queene described the River Trent and its fish fauna as follows:

The beauteous Trent which in itself enseams, Thirty kinds of fish and thirty different streams. This couplet was closely echoed in 1612, in Michael Drayton's Poly-Olbion description of the Trent:

Or thirty kinds of fish that in my streams do live These poems have been a source of curiosity to a number of fishing experts, who have endeavoured to guess the identity of the thirty fish alluded to in the poems.

1641 list The earliest known list of fish from the River Trent was from 1641. Although the list contains thirty names, one of them is not a fish by modern standards, but an edible crustacean, the crayfish. The list also includes some fish names that no longer exist in modern English, such as Frenches and lenbrood; these species are therefore unidentifiable.

The 1641 list of 30 species (verbatim, note antique spelling of some names): Barbet, Bream, Bullhead, Burbolts, Carp, Chevin, Crayfish, Dates, Eel, Flounder, Frenches, Gudgeon, Grayling, Lampern, Lamphrey, Lenbrood, Loach, Minnows, Pickeral, Pinks, Perch, Roach, Ruff, Salmon, Shad, Smelt, Sticklebats, Sturgeon, Trout, Whitling.

Note on the sturgeon The largest of these fish was the sturgeon, a species which at one time was fairly frequently caught in the Trent, but only in low numbers. Notable examples included a sturgeon of eight feet taken near Donington Castle in 1255, and another at nearby King's Mill of seven feet in 1791. The last known catch was in 1902 near Holme, Nottinghamshire; the fish was eight-and-a-half-feet long and weighed 250 pounds.

1676 description In 1676 in Izaak Walton described the River Trent as "One of the finest rivers in the world and the most abounding with excellent salmon and all sorts of delicate fish." Walton also speculated (incorrectly) that the name of the River Trent might be based on the number of fish species, that the Trent is "so called from thirty kind of fishes that are found in it, or for that it receiveth thirty lesser rivers".

1751 list In 1751, Charles Deering provided a list of 34 kinds, under the title An Alphabetical List of All the Fish Catch'd in the River Trent. This list read (verbatim); Barbel, Bream, Bulhead, Burbot, Carp, Chub, Crayfish, Dace, Eel, Flounder, Grayling, Gudgeon, Lamprey, Lampern, Loach, Minnow, Muscle, Perch, Pike, Roach, Rud, Ruff, Salmon, Salmon Trout, Salmon Pink, Sand Eel, Shad, Smelt, Strickleback, Sturgeon, Stream Pink, Tench, Trout, and Whitling. This list also includes several unrecognizable fish. It also lists three names for salmon, as well as whitling, which is a name for a young male trout, and muscle, which is probably a reference to freshwater mussels, formerly used as food in some areas.

1829 Glover reproduced Deering's list in his History and Gazetteer of the County of Derby, and also provided further information on many of the then known species in the companion volume, The History of the County of Derby (Volume 1).

1985 In 1985, a study of anglers' catches stated that the "Trent supports about 40 species", but they were not listed. The fish that were caught most often, and were important to anglers, included barbel, bream, bleak, carp, chub, dace, eel, gudgeon, perch, and roach.

2007 non-native species Non-native species that had a sustainable population in the river were listed in 2007, and included the European bitterling (Rhodeus amarus), carp (Cyprinus carpio), and zander (Sander lucioperca).

Master list This list is based on Deering's 1829 list. It includes the locally extinct species as well as the more recent additions, but it does not claim to be fully comprehensive; other species may occur in the river but are as yet undocumented.

See also List of fishes of Great Britain Angling records in the United Kingdom

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with List of fishes of the River Trent

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what List of fishes of the River Trent claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to List of fishes of the River Trent before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about List of fishes of the River Trent ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of List of fishes of the River Trent

In research: List of fishes of the River Trent appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses List of fishes of the River Trent in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: List of fishes of the River Trent is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Fauna of Great Britain, Fauna of the British Isles, Great Britain-related lists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for List of fishes of the River Trent outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study List of fishes of the River Trent in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
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Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
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Frequently asked questions

What is List of fishes of the River Trent in simple terms?

Why does List of fishes of the River Trent matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study List of fishes of the River Trent?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on List of fishes of the River Trent.