Our speaker on 5th December was Paul Willerton whose subject was British freshwater fish. His first point was that you don’t see them unless you are an angler. In the Severn Trent area all fish live entirely in water with the exception of the eel which can travel overland and spawns in the Sargasso Sea. Some sea fish spawn in freshwater such as the endangered shad, the sea trout and, of course, the salmon which dies after spawning. The carp was thought to have been introduced by the Normans but is now thought to have been brought here by the Romans. A long and complicated recipe was recited for cooking the chub starting with placing it on an oak platter and finishing with throwing away the fish and eating the platter! (The chub has thousands of bones.) The bleak has iridescent scales which are used for coating buttons to imitate pearl and this is the process used for the costumes worn by London’s Pearly Kings and Queens. A particularly interesting story was related about the barbel which was originally only found in rivers running west-east and nobody knew why. It was then deduced it originated in Europe and spread to Britain before the English Channel was formed when the Great Ouse and the Thames flowed into the estuaries of the Rhine. Once Britain was separated from the mainland it became confined to the east, although it has now been introduced to other inland waters. Two species were imported by water authorities - the grass carp and the edible zander. The former was introduced to keep down weed growth but it didn’t take to English weed. The latter came from Spain and was placed in the Ouse Relief Channel in East Anglia which has no outlet to other waterways but needless to say it has spread. Finally, Paul mentioned the unique lamprey which is not a true fish. Although eating a surfeit is often quoted as the cause of Henry I’s death it was more likely to have been indigestion caused by generally over eating or food poisoning. It was a tradition to cook lampreys for coronations and a pie was baked in Gloucester for Queen Victoria which was apparently well received. It was decided to revive the custom for Queen Elizabeth II but no reaction was recorded. This was a most fascinating and entertaining talk and Paul answered several questions. Steve Saunders mentioned he had eaten a lamprey pie in France and had never tasted anything so disgusting! We meet at 10:00 every Thursday at The Boathouse, Evesham Rowing Club. Our speaker on12th December is Doug Eyre on ‘Fun with Caricatures’ and on 19th December we hold our Christmas party at The Boathouse. Full details can be found on our website www.eveshamprobus.co.uk Alan Smith Photos: 1. Lampetra fluviatilis in Pirita river, Estonia. Credit: Tiithunt Wikipedia Commons 2. Petromyzon marinus (Lamprey) mouth in Sala Maremagnum of Aquarium Finisterrae (House of the Fishes), in Corunna, Galicia, Spain.Credit: Drow Male Wikipedia Commons