New fish species described from the streams of Manyas Lake basin

The newly described species Alburnoides manyasensis, belongs the large carp family Cyprinidae that includes freshwater fishes such as he carps, the minnows, and their relatives. This is the largest fish family, and more notably the largest family of vertebrate animals, with the remarkable numbers of over 2,400 species. Cyprinids are highly important food fish because they make the largest part of biomass in most water types except for fast-flowing rivers.

The genus Alburnoides is widely distributed in Turkey in rivers and streams of basins of the Marmara, Black and Aegean seas, being absent only from the Mediterranean Sea basin. It is distinguished by small black spots located on each side of the fish, especially prominent on the anterior of the body. The description was published in the open access journal Zookeys.

Alburnoides manyasensisis is described from the Koca Stream drainage of Lake Manyas, Marmara Sea basin in Anatolia and is currently only associated with this specific locality. The name of the species is an adjective that is derived from the name of Lake Manyas to which the new species is possibly endemic.

The new species inhabits clear fast running water with cobble and pebble substrates. It is a comparatively small representative of the family with maximum known body length of only 92 cm while the largest representative of the family, the giant barb (Catlocarpio siamensis) can reach up to the astonishing 3 m in length.

Via Pensoft