Leuciscidae, Bonaparte, 1835

Family Leuciscidae View in CoL

Minnows

A total of 137 species of Leuciscids have been identified in West Asia. These fishes are characterised by a short dorsal fin whose last unbranched ray is never serrated, the absence of barbels, pharyngeal teeth usually in one or two rows, and several osteological characters. They are found in Europe, North Africa, western and northern Asia, and North America but, are absent from tropical and southern Africa and tropical Asia. Leuciscidae is divided into two main groups, the Leuciscines and the Phoxinines. Both are present in West Asia. The Phoxinines are known only from the genus Phoxinus in West Asia. They are numerous and highly diverse in East Asia and especially in North America, where they dominate many fish faunas in terms of species and biomass. In contrast, leuciscines are most speciose in the Western Palaearctic, where most genera are endemic and only a few are distributed east of Central and East Asia. Only one genus of leuciscines is found in North America ( Notemigonus ).

The generic systematics of Leuciscidae have changed considerably in recent decades, as morphological characters poorly diagnose most genera. In many instances, the traditionally recognised genera have no congruence by morphological and molecular data. This is partly due to the earlier practise of classifying morphologically specialised species in their own, often monotypic genera (predatory species such as Aspius ). Furthermore, some small-sized species exhibit characters that are partly interpreted as reductive. These have often been classified in the genera Pseudophoxinus and Petroleuciscus but have been transferred to other genera mostly based on molecular characters. Intergeneric hybridisation and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) introgression have led to the misclassification of some species based on mitochondrial molecular data alone. In such instances, we have adopted the most recent generic-level reorganisations, which have been informed by both morphological and molecular data.

Further reading. Bogutskaya 1986, 1988a, b (osteology); Zardoya & Doadrio 1999, Rüber et al. 2007 (phylogeny).

Key to genera of Leuciscidae View in CoL in West Asia

1a - Lateral line undulated, complete; belly with a sharp keel between throat and anal origin. ……………… Pelecus View in CoL

1b - Lateral line running straight, curved, complete, incomplete, or absent; belly without a sharp keel between throat and pelvic origin. ………………2

2a - Lower lip with a cornified sheath; mouth subtermi- nal or inferior, straight or arched; mouth inferior with strongly projecting rostral cap (9–12½ branched anal rays). ……………… Chondrostoma

2b - Lower lip without a cornified sheath; mouth supe- rior, terminal or inferior, arched; if inferior, then 19–44½ branched anal rays. ………………3 3a - Unbranched part of pectoral rays 1–3 thicker and stiffer in male than in female; pectoral rays 2–3 slightly slanted upward, with a conspicuous downward angle at distal end of thickened part. ……………… Egirdira

3b - Pectoral of male not modified, identical to that of female in shape, often longer in male than in female. ………………4

4a - Mouth large, cleft reaching beyond front margin of eye, superior; symphysis of lower jaw with a conspicuous knob fitting in a notch in upper jaw. ( Fig. 39 View Figure 39 ). ……………… Leuciscus

4b - Mouth cleft not reaching vertical of eye, superior, terminal, or subterminal; symphysis of lower jaw without conspicuous knob; upper jaw without median notch. ………………5

5a - A midventral keel in front of anus, exposed (scale- less) at least immediately in front of anus, usually on at least half of distance between pelvic base and anus (keel weakly developed and not exposed in Acanthobrama persidis , some Alburnus doriae , and some A. kurui ). ………………6

5b - No scaleless midventral keel in front of anus. ………………17

6a - 23–48½ branched anal rays. ………………7

6b - 7–23½ branched anal rays. ………………8

7a - 23–30½ branched anal rays. ……………… Abramis

7b - 33–48½ branched anal rays. ……………… Ballerus

8a - Lateral line incomplete, with 8–12 pored scales. ……………… Leucaspius

8b - Lateral line complete. ………………9

9a - Lateral line strongly curved downward; mouth superior or terminal; size up 400 mm SL, most species less than 130 mm SL. ………………10

9b - Lateral line more or less along middle of flank; mouth subterminal to subinferior; size up to 700 mm SL. ………………12

10a - Last unbranched dorsal ray strongly ossified, often thickened. ……………… Mirogrex

10b - Last unbranched dorsal ray as much ossified as other rays, not thickened. ………………11

11a - A small black spot on each side of each lateral line pore; usually a dark-grey midlateral stripe and several longitudinal rows of spots on flank; 6–10 gill rakers, slightly longer than distance between two rakers. ……………… Alburnoides

11b - Body silvery, without dark-grey marks on flank, often with a faint midlateral stripe; 13–38 gill rakers, densely set, several times longer than distance between two rakers. ……………… Alburnus 12a - 7–9½ branched anal rays. ………………13

12b - 10–23½ branched anal rays. ………………15

13a - 65–72 total lateral-line scales, body cylindrical, only slightly compressed. ……………… Leucalburnus

13b - 35–52 total lateral-line scales; body clearly com- pressed. ………………14

14a - No brown stripe along flank. 35–43 total scales along lateral line; pharyngeal teeth in two rows. ……………… Acanthobrama ( A. persidis )

14b - A brown stripe along flank. 45–52 total scales along lateral line; pharyngeal teeth in one row. ……………… Turcichondrostoma

15a - 10–19½ branched anal rays; last unbranched dorsal ray strongly ossified, often thickened. ……………… Acanthobrama

15b - 19–23½ branched anal rays; last unbranched dorsal ray as much ossified as other rays, not thickened. ………………16

16a - 43–46+2–3 lateral-line scales; a scaleless dorsal groove behind nape (in adults). ……………… Blicca

16b - 46–58+2–3 lateral-line scales; no scaleless dorsal groove in front of dorsal. ……………… Vimba

17a - Flank with a row of dark, squarish to vertically elongated blotches, sometimes fused into an irregular midlateral stripe, followed by a separate dark-grey spot at caudal base. ……………… Phoxinus

17b - Body uniform silvery or yellowish brown, some- times with a broad, faint, midlateral stripe or with irregular dotted or spotted pattern, no dark-grey or brown, squarish to vertically elongated blotches, and no conspicuous dark-grey or brown spot at caudal base. ………………18

18a - Infraorbital canal not connected to preoperculo-mandibular sensory canal; lateral line incomplete in many species. ( Fig. 40 View Figure 40 ). ……………… Pseudophoxinus

18b - Infraorbital canal connected to preoperculo-man- dibular sensory canal; lateral line complete (except in Ladigesocypris ). ………………19 19a - Lateral line incomplete. ……………… Ladigesocypris View Figure

19b - Lateral line complete. ………………20

20a - Dorsal origin behind base of last pelvic ray; mouth superior or terminal. ………………21

20b - Dorsal origin above pelvic base; mouth terminal to inferior. ………………22

21a - Mouth superior; posterior margin of anal concave; keel between pelvic base and anus usually present. ……………… Scardinius

21b - Mouth terminal; posterior margin of anal convex or almost straight; no keel between pelvic base and anus. ……………… Petroleuciscus

22a - Posterior margin of anal concave; 4–5 simple dorsal rays (posterior 3 usually distinct, anterior 1–2 very short and often hidden in skin); pharyngeal teeth in one row. ……………… Rutilus

22b - Posterior margin of anal convex or almost straight; 3 simple dorsal rays (posterior 2 usually distinct, ante- rior one very short and often hidden in skin); pharyn- geal teeth in two rows. ……………… Squalius