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Leucaspius is a monospecific genus of ray-finned fish belonging to the subfamily Leuciscinae, of the family Leuciscidae. The only species in this genus is Leucaspius delineatus, known as the sunbleak, belica or moderlieschen. Thus species is found in Europe and Western Asia.
The common name Moderlieschen is of German origin. Although it looks like a proper word that can be approximately transliterated as "mouldy Lizzy", it is actually a version of an older name which survives in parts of Germany as Mutterloseken. Literally meaning "the little motherless one", this ultimately refers to the fact that the sticky eggs of the moderlieschen can withstand exposure to air for a remarkably long time. Deposited on water plants, they sometimes stick to the feet of and similar birds and are carried by these to . Large numbers of young moderlieschens are thus sometimes encountered when such ponds dry up, and with no adult fish being present this gave rise to the belief that they were "motherless".
It has been introduced to Great Britain, and appears to be established in the Avalon Marshes in Somerset and has been implicated in transmitting a new species of parasitic Trematoda to both European otter and American mink in the area but where it may now be an important prey species for piscivorous birds.
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