Aral barbel

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Aral barbel
Drawing of an aral barbel

Drawing of an aral barbel

Systematics
without rank: Otophysa
Order : Carp-like (Cypriniformes)
Subordination : Carp fish-like (Cyprinoidei)
Family : Carp fish (Cyprinidae)
Genre : Luciobarbus
Type : Aral barbel
Scientific name
Luciobarbus brachycephalus
Kessler , 1872

The Aral barbel ( Luciobarbus brachycephalus ) is a large species of barb from the Near East. It is called "Caspian Barbel" in English, "Kaspiiskii Usach" or "Аральский усач" in Russian, "Аралдын ит муруту" in Kyrgyzstan, and "Zardak" or "ماهي سس" in Persian.

Systematics

In the past, the Aral barbel was assigned to the genus Barbus , it is now assigned to the genus Luciobarbus . The following subspecies are distinguished:

  • Luciobarbus brachycephalus brachycephalus , Kessler, 1872
  • Luciobarbus brachycephalus caspius , Berg, 1914

While the first subspecies is native to large parts of Central Asia, the occurrence of L. brachycephalus caspius is limited to the catchment area around the Black Sea.

description

The Aral barbel has four beard threads that are arranged around the mouth below. With their length, the barbels extend beyond the edge of the eyes. 67–76 scales are characteristic, which are arranged on the sidelines. Luciobarbus brachycephalus has 16 to 25 gill arches. The fish are usually 60 centimeters long, but in exceptional cases up to 90 centimeters. A specimen caught in the Volga weighed 22.5 kilograms and was over 120 cm in length.

distribution

The aral barbel is found in the waters of Afghanistan , Azerbaijan , Iran , Kazakhstan , Russia , Turkey , Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan . The main distribution area is south and west of the Aral Sea , in the Kazakh river Tschüi . During the spawning season, the animals migrate from the Aral Sea and the Caspian Sea to the lower reaches of the flowing rivers such as the Caucasian Terek , the Samur , Kura , or the lower macaws . The aral barbel is less common in the lower Volga, where it migrates up to the heights of Volgograd .

Way of life

Aral barbels live in rivers, lakes, reservoirs and canals. They can be found in the sea at depths of up to 25 meters, in rivers in deep channels with a gravelly or stony bottom. In the brackish water on the lower reaches of the rivers, benthic crustaceans are their main food. The Aral barbels do not eat during the spawning migration. Only after spawning do the animals eat insects, fry or algae, seeds and other plant material. The spawning season takes place in the months of April to June. During this time of year, the rivers rise to the lower reaches that they can reach from the sea. Reproduction takes place in fast-flowing stretches of water with a hard bottom at depths of one to two meters. Females are able to lay up to 1.25 million fish eggs. The animals also undertake hikes to reach their winter quarters. At the Syr Darya , Amu Darya and Zeravshan another mass migration takes place in July, which, however, has greatly diminished their habitats by the construction of dams and the increasing salinization.

Use

In the catchment area of ​​the Caspian Sea and the Aral Sea, the Aral barbel are caught with fish traps and nets during their migration.

Endangerment status

In Kazakhstan, the aral barbel is on the red list of endangered species. The Aral Sea has shrunk considerably since 1976 and has led to severe salinization in the area. Currently, there are Aral barbel only in some storage areas at the Syr Darya and Amu Darya and the Karakum Canal. There is no precise information about the number of individuals. It is believed that the isolated population in the Kura River west of the Caspian Sea is stable and that the migrant population is declining due to the lack of suitable spawning areas and increasing fish poaching. Aral barbels are often only found in the southern tributaries of the Caspian Sea in Iran and Azerbaijan. In general, the increase in hydropower plants in the 1950s and 1960s and other ecological threats has resulted in a continuous decline in the population of Luciobarbus brachycephalus in the Caspian and Aral Seas. The decrease is said to have been −30% in the last 30 years, so the fish species no longer occurs at all in the heavily salinated Aral Sea.

Web links

Notes and individual references

  1. ↑ a b c d e f Aral barbel on Fishbase.org (English)
  2. ↑ http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=293554
  3. ↑ a b c Peter S. Maitland: Der Kosmos-Fischführer, The freshwater fish of Europe in color, Franckh Verlag Stuttgart, 1977, page 156, ISBN 3-440-04468-8
  4. ↑ gill raker?
  5. ^ Fishing World Records
  6. ↑ Freshwater Ecoregions of the World on archive link ( Memento of the original from July 29, 2012 on WebCite ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.feow.org
  7. ↑ http://redbook.kz/species.php?num=62&lang=en
  8. ↑ http://www.redbookkz.info/species.php?num=62&lang=ru
  9. ↑ landlocked population in the Kura River
  10. ↑ anadromous population
  11. ↑ https://apiv3.iucnredlist.org/api/v3/taxonredirect/135684