Southern nine-spined stickleback
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Southern nine-spined stickleback ( Pungitius platygaster ) |
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| Pungitius platygaster | ||||||||||||
| Kessler , 1859 |
The southern nine-spined stickleback ( Pungitius platygaster ) is a fish from the family of sticklebacks .
distribution and habitat
This stickleback species mainly inhabits freshwater biotopes rich in plants, but can also be found in brackish water.
Settlements are coastal waters and tributaries of the Caspian , Black and Azov Seas , as well as the area around the Aral Sea . The distribution areas of the southern nine-spined stickleback and its relative, the nine-spined stickleback , do not overlap and currently have no spatial points of contact. The IUCN currently assesses the population of this species as not endangered (“least concern”).
features
The southern nine-spined stickleback remains small, the average size is five centimeters. A body length of seven centimeters is only achieved in rare cases.
It has eight to eleven retractable spines in front of the soft-radiated dorsal fin.
The coloration varies greatly between the populations, outside the spawning season a brownish pattern on a lighter background is predominant.
Outwardly very similar to the nine-spined stickleback ( P. pungitius ), this species differs from its close relatives mainly in the signage. The large abdominal shield, which can reach almost a quarter of the body length (in P. pungitius 14–16 percent) , is particularly noticeable . With 15 to 16 percent of the body length, the ventral spines are also significantly longer than in the other species. They also have serrated edges, while P. pungitius (mostly) has smooth-edged ventral spines. Heiner Kullack proved the close relationship with P. pungitius in 1968 through attempts at crossbreeding. Breeding attempts with the hybrids have so far failed.
Number of fin rays :
- Dorsal 1 VIII – XI, dorsal 2 7–10, anal I / 6–9, pectoral 10–11, ventral II / 0–1, caudal 12–13
behavior
The behavior in common with the nine-spined stickleback also predominates , there are only small differences in the performance of the courtship ritual. In addition, the southern nine-spined stickleback prefers spawning grounds with particularly dense vegetation.
Subspecies
At times, the southern nine-spined stickleback was again divided into the two subspecies Pungitius platygaster platygaster and Pungitius platygaster aralensis . This distinction has been dropped in recent studies.
swell
literature
- Hans-Joachim Paepke: The sticklebacks. Gasterosteidae. Westarp Sciences, Magdeburg 1996, ISBN 3-89432-492-9 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Yazdan Keivany, Joseph S. Nelson: Taxonomic review of the genus Pungitius, nine spine sticklebacks (Gasterosteidae). (English, PDF; 535 kB)
Web links
- Southern nine-spined stickleback on Fishbase.org (English)
- Pungitius platygaster in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2008 Posted by: J. Freyhof, M. Kottelat, 2008. Accessed January 2 of 2009.