Somali cave fish

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Somali cave fish
Cyprinidae - Phreatichthys andruzzii.JPG

Somali cave fish ( Garra andruzzii )

Systematics
Order : Carp-like (Cypriniformes)
Subordination : Carp fish-like (Cyprinoidei)
Family : Carp fish (Cyprinidae)
Subfamily : Labeoninae
Genre : Garra
Type : Somali cave fish
Scientific name
Garra andruzzii
( Vinciguerra , 1924)

The Somali cave fish ( Garra andruzzii ( Syn .: Phreatichthys andruzzii )) is a cave fish species from the carp family (Cyprinidae). It was described as the only member of a monotypic genus ( Phreatichthys ), but was later assigned to the species-rich genus Garra . The Somali cave fish occurs exclusively in cave waters under the Bud-Bud oasis ( Terra typica ) and within a radius of 30 km in central Somalia . Due to the small area of distribution and specialized lifestyle the way in which it is red list of the IUCN as endangered ( Vulnerable ) classified.

features

The Somali cave fish reaches a maximum length of 6.2 cm, with the body without the caudal fin being about five times as long as it is high. It has no eyes or scales and is not pigmented, so that the body appears yellowish-white. The lateral line organ is well developed. Of the two pairs of barbels , the front one is about a fifth the length of the head, while the one further back on the upper jaw is a little shorter. The fangs sit in two rows. The pectoral fins have 14 soft rays . The short dorsal fin has three hard and six soft rays and sits a little behind the middle of the body. The eight-rayed pelvic fins sit somewhat behind the dorsal fin. The anal fin has three hard and five soft rays, the caudal fin is 22-rayed.

Research history

The Somali cave fish is one of several fish species in which adaptations to cave life have been studied. It is the first animal to be discovered that does not adjust its internal biological clock to sunlight. It lives according to an unusually long circadian rhythm , the period of which can be up to 47 hours, and which is insensitive to stimulation with light. However, studies showed that other external stimuli (e.g. regular food supply) could induce these fish to adapt their rhythm.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ L. Colli, A. Paglianti, R. Berti, G. Gandolfi, J. Tagliavini: Molecular phylogeny of the blind cavefish Phreatichthys andruzzii and Garra barreimiae within the family Cyprinidae. In: Environmental Biology of Fishes. 84, 2009, pp. 95-107. doi: 10.1007 / s10641-008-9393-z
  2. ↑ Garra andruzzii in the Catalog of Fishes (English)
  3. ↑ Phreatichthys andruzzii in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2010. Posted by: Stiassny, M. & Brooks, E., 2009. Accessed April 26, 2015.
  4. ↑ Phreatichthys andruzzii on Fishbase.org (English)
  5. ↑ D. Vinciguerra: Descrizione di un ciprinide cieco proveniente dalla Somalia italiana . In: Annali del Museo civico di storia naturale Giacomo Doria . tape 51 , no. 239 , 1924, pp. 239-243 (Italian). ( First description of the species)
  6. ^ N. Cavallari, E. Frigato, D. Vallone, N. Fröhlich, JF Lopez-Olmeda and others: A Blind Circadian Clock in Cavefish Reveals that Opsins Mediate Peripheral Clock Photoreception . In: PLoS Biology . tape 9 , no. 9 , 2011, doi : 10.1371 / journal.pbio.1001142 ( plosbiology.org ).

Web links

Commons : Phreatichthys andruzzii  - collection of images, videos and audio files