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FISH GUIDE · Freshwater

Schneider: identification, habitat and fishing guide

Alburnoides bipunctatus

A small river fish favouring flowing water.

Catalogue names : Schneider. Forms and names may vary between habitats.

Editorial review : · This species guide is not permission to fish. Read the precautions below and check the current rules for your location before targeting a species. Some species or populations are protected.

Geographical distribution

The retained range includes European drainages from the Loire eastward, including the Rhône, North Sea and southern Baltic. Older broad Eurasian descriptions are not used as an exhaustive inventory of the species now distinguished within the genus.

  • Native range : Loire and Rhône
  • Native range : North Sea and southern Baltic drainages

Documented areas, not an exhaustive list. Presence in a region does not imply presence in every water body or permission to fish.

Distribution sources

Identification

Curved lateral line outlined by two rows of dark dots.

Alburnoides bipunctatus differs from bleak through its double dotted lateral line and somewhat deeper body. Colour alone is insufficient.

The Vendée federation compares its dark band with that of blageon; focus particularly on the double lateral-line dots among the features examined.

Habitat

Flowing, well-oxygenated river areas.

The Vendée federation describes use of both riffles and deeper areas. It considers the species’ presence in the department potentially linked to introductions during stocking: local establishment does not prove natural origin.

The species inhabits flowing, oxygenated waters; an observation alone does not certify a river’s overall quality.

The Vendée account mentions riffles and deep areas, and suggests stocking introductions as a possible origin of its departmental occurrence. This regional observation is not proof that every French population was introduced.

Diet

Mainly insect larvae, sometimes algae and plant debris.

Behaviour

It lives in shoals and takes drifting organisms.

Spirlin takes small organisms carried by the current. This biology does not establish a float- or fly-fishing method.

Indicative biological size

10–12 cm according to OPSN, excluding the maximum.

Fishing context and precautions

Gard, 2022: a float-fishing example on the Auzonnet, bait drifting downstream. Check local rules.

The Pas-de-Calais federation guide documents spirlin catches while pole fishing, often without specifically targeting it. The Ain federation also recommends pole fishing on the Sevron and Solnan, where it records the species. These sources do not specify a rig or bait particular to spirlin; indicative use subject to local rules.

A distinctive feature

The name bipunctatus refers to the double lateral rows of dots.

Sources and review

Each reference includes its access date. Overall editorial review: . Local conditions and regulations may change.

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