Salmon carp
| Salmon carp | ||||||||||||
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Aaptosyax grypus in a market |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name of the genus | ||||||||||||
| Aaptosyax | ||||||||||||
| Rainboth , 1991 | ||||||||||||
| Scientific name of the species | ||||||||||||
| Aaptosyax grypus | ||||||||||||
| Rainboth, 1991 |
The salmon carp ( Aaptosyax grypus ,) is a large predatory carp species of the monotypic genus Aaptosyax that is threatened with extinction and occurs exclusively in Southeast Asia . While it is known as 曲 鯉 in Chinese and Pa Sanak or Pa Sanak Gnai in Laos, this type of fish is called Pla Chanak ( Thai ปลา สะ นา ก ยักษ์ ) in Thai .
description
Aaptosyax grypus was scientifically described by Rainboth in 1991. The predatory fish has an elongated body and a fatty eyelid that covers most of its eye. In its big mouth there is a notch in the upper jaw . The fish species can be up to 130 centimeters long. The largest Aaptosyax grypus caught in the Mekong weighed over 30 kilograms.
Occurrence and habitat
The salmon carp is an endemic species that has so far only been caught in the central Mekong in Laos and Vietnam . It is also found in Cambodia and Vietnam. Its distribution area is limited from Sambor in Cambodia to Loei in Thailand. Aaptosyax grypus prefers the main stream of large tropical rivers and likes to hang out in deep rapids behind rocks, where it lies in wait for prey fish swimming by.
Way of life
Young fish of Aaptosyax grypus live mainly in the tributaries of the Mekong. In the course of their development they become large, very fast swimming predatory fish that hunt for schools of fish in the middle and upper water. During the spawning season from December to February , which is synonymous with the rainy season in Indochina , Aaptosyax grypus is followed by species such as Probarbus ssp. and other smaller carp species long migrations upstream. On the one hand it is a spawning migration and on the other hand it is a pursuit of the prey fish. The spawning migrations in the area from O Krieng in Cambodia to Klong Kaem in Ubon Ratchathani in Thailand have been recorded. The actual spawning takes place during the dry season in April in deep oxygen-rich pools below rapids.
use
Aaptosyax grypus was used as food fish and sport fish. Professional fishermen report that the salmon carp has become an extremely rare species of fish. In the Mekong on the Thai-Laotian border, in the confluence of the Mae Nam Mun (Mun River) and Songkhram Rivers, large populations of salmon carp existed for a long time and are now falling dramatically. This is due to the construction of dams and the excessive use of gillnets, to which a fast predator like the Giant Salmon Carp is very susceptible. According to the IUCN , it is on the Red List of Threatened Species as " Critically Endangered" .
literature
- Walter J. Rainboth: Aaptosyax grypus, a New Genus and Species of Large Piscivorous Cyprinids from the Middle Mekong River. Japanese Journal of Ichthyology, Vol. 38, No. 3, 1991, Department of Biology, University of California, Los Angeles PDF
Notes and individual references
- ↑ Transl. Greek. "Invincible Fish"
- ↑ a b c d e f g h Aaptosyax grypus on Fishbase.org (English)
- ^ Fishing World Records
- ↑ a b c d Key Mekong fish species - migration paths ( Memento from May 31, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Aaptosyax grypus in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2015.4. Posted by: Ng et al. , 2011. Retrieved March 1, 2016.