Tiber rudd

Description

The Tiber rudd, called scardola in Italy, is a rudd-like cyprinid of the family Cyprinidae (Leuciscidae) reaching about 35 cm. It resembles the common rudd, with a deep, silvery body, an upturned mouth and orange-red fins. The species is endemic to central Italy and was originally more widespread in the Tiber-Latium district, but through water pollution, habitat loss and competition with introduced exotics it has become almost confined to a single lake, Lake Scanno in the Abruzzo region. As an omnivore it eats water plants, algae, insect larvae and small invertebrates. In late spring it spawns in shallow, vegetated water. With its very small, isolated population it is assessed as Endangered (EN).