In very turbid waters, common bream can occur in large numbers, which may result in a shortage of bottom-living prey such as chironomids. The bream are then forced to live by filter feeding with their gill rakers, "Daphnia" water fleas being the main prey. As the fish grows, the gill rakers become too far apart to catch small prey and the bream will not then grow bigger than . If a common bream is malnourished, it can develop a so-called "knife back", a sharp edge along its back. The common bream spawns from April to June, when water temperatures are around . At this time, the males form territories within which the females lay 100,000 to 300,000 eggs on water plants. The fry hatch after three to 12 days and attach themselves to water plants with special adhesive glands, until their yolk is used up. Because of their slender shape, the young fish are often not recognised as bream, but they can be identified by their flat bodies and silvery colour. At this stage, the fish are still pelagic, but after a few months, they acquire their typical body shape and become bottom-dwellers. By three to four years old, the fish are sexually mature. The freshwater bream is not generally caught for consumption. Common Bream are popular with sport and match fishermen. However, bream are not as hard fighting as most other fish native to the UK, as due to their flat, disc-shaped profile they are relatively easy to bring to the bank. Bream will eat most baits, especially:  Bream can be caught in rivers or lakes, with generous use of groundbait to attract the shoals. They are not shy fish. Float fishing on the bottom is another technique used. Ledgering (using just a lead weight to hold the bait down) with a cage feeder full of bait, often works better on larger rivers and lakes. The current (2017) record common bream is over 10 kg (22lbs), caught in 2012 .