Freshwater fish.
Name - Origin
Bleak is a small freshwater fish of the coarse fish species, belonging to the family Cyprinidae. Bleak lives in great schools and feeds upon small molluscs, insects that fall in the water, insect larvae, worms, small shellfish, and plant detritus. (wikipedia, common bleak)
It has a 10-15 cm long body and fine polished scales, small mouth, large eyes and small dorsal fin with soft rays and forked tail. The upper part of its body is greenish-blue and the lower part is silver. (Great Encyclopedia of Cyprus, vol. 1, entry αλβούρνος,ο, 349).
Its scientific name is Alburnus alburnus. Other common names are λευκίσκος (levkiskos) and σίρκο (sirko) (wikipedia, alburnus).
It is caught using a fishing rod and small hooks and consumed fried. Great Encyclopedia of Cyprus, vol. 1, entry αλβούρνος,ο, 349).
Additional information and bibliography
Introduced in Cyprus by the Department of Fisheries in the framework of the fish enrichment programme of water dams. Great Encyclopedia of Cyprus, vol. 1, entry αλβούρνος,ο, 349).
Pavlides A. (ed.) (1984), Great Encyclopedia of Cyprus, vol. 1, Filokypros, Nicosia.
Web source: wikipedia, Alburnus, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Alburnus.
Kyriaki Panteli, Argyro Xenophontos
Foods
Fishing and fish dishes
In recent years, in Cyprus, fish was served as follows: oftá (chargrilled), fried, hoglastá (boiled), savóro (marinated), plakí (in the oven) and yahní (in tomato sauce).