Cobitis satunini, Gladkov, 1935

Cobitis satunini View in CoL View Figure

Common name. Colchic spined loach.

Diagnosis. Distinguished from other species of Cobitis in Black Sea basin by: ○ pigmentation in Z3 usually complete, reaching much behind dorsal base / ○ pigmentation in Z3 usually wider than pigmentation in Z2 / ○ blotches in Z4 irregularly roundish or squarish anterior to dorsal origin / ○ focal zone of subdorsal scale small, about ⅓–⅒ of vertical scale diameter / ○ one lamina circularis in male / ○ base of lamina circularis with a narrow connection to pectoral ray. Size up to 90 mm SL.

Distribution View Figure . From Kintrich in Georgia [entering Black Sea at 41.80388, 41.76916] clockwise to İyidere, Filyos and Bartın drainages in southwestern Black Sea basin and from Tuzla (northernmost Aegean) east to Lake İznik basin, including Sursuluk drainage.

Habitat. Still to moderately flowing clear water streams with mud or sand bottoms.

Biology. No data.

Conservation status. LC.

Remarks. Cobitis satunini is closely related to European C. taenia . Cobitis taenia is distinguished by having 48 chro- mosomes (vs. 50). Records of Cobitis along the southern Black Sea coast are very sparse, and we are not aware of findings of Cobitis (except C. simplicispina ) between Trabzon in east and Bartın in west. Cobitis from Western Black Sea basin, Marmara and northern Aegean had been identified as C. taenia . But these fish have 50 chromosomes and are also close to C. satunini by morphological and molecular characters. Cobitis osurgeticus has recently been treated as a valid species for most of the populations identified here as C. satunini . It is distinguished from C. satunini by very small differences in chromosomes and morphometric characters (both populations are probably conspecific). Cobitis osurgeticus is a numen nudum, as its description is not valid, despite later indications, and the name is not available.

Further reading. Gladkov 1935 (description); Freyhof et al. 2018c (description, distribution); Vasil'eva et al. 2024 ( C. osurgeticus )