Tench
Tinca tinca
Kosher
Has fins and scales
Fins
Yes
Scales
Yes
Description
The tench or doctor fish is a fresh- and brackish-water fish of the order Cypriniformes found throughout Eurasia from Western Europe including Britain and Ireland east into Asia as far as the Ob and Yenisei Rivers. It is also found in Lake Baikal.
Tench are edible and work in recipes that would otherwise call for carp, though they are not widely eaten.
The tench lives in slow fresh water, especially lakes and lowland rivers, across Eurasia from western Europe to central Siberia and Lake Baikal. It likes still, muddy, weedy water and survives low oxygen where carp cannot.
Also known as
- Doctor Fish
Kosher Tench in foreign languages
| Scientific | Tinca tinca |
| Hebrew | טינקה |
| Arabic | كمه مبذولة |
| Portuguese | Tenca |
| French | tanche |
| Italian | Tinche |
| German | Schleie |
| Greek | Γλήνι |
| Russian | Линь |
| Turkish | Kadife balığı |
| Chinese | 丁鱖 |
| Japanese | テンチ |
| Korean | 유럽잉어 |
| Vietnamese | Cá chép nhớt |
Gallery
Warnings & Kosher Issues
- Kosher. As a cyprinid it has fins and scales, though the scales are very small and deeply set in thick, slimy skin.
- Check that the small scales are present, since the slick skin can make the fish look scaleless at a glance.