Alburnoides prespensis

Alburnoides prespensis, the Prespa spirlin, is a species of freshwater ray-finned fish belonging to the family Leuciscidae, which includes the daces, minnows and related fishes. This fish is endemic to the Balkans, around Prespa Lakes.

Alburnoides prespensis
Conservation status
Endangered  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Cypriniformes
Family:	Leuciscidae
Subfamily:	Leuciscinae
Genus:	Alburnoides
Species:	A. prespensis
Binomial name
Alburnoides prespensis (S. Karaman, 1924)
Synonyms
Alburnus bipunctatus var. prespensis S. Karaman, 1924 Alburnus bipunctatus prespensis S. Karaman, 1924

Taxonomy

Alburnoides prespensis was first formally described as Alburnoides bipunctatus prespensis in 1924 by the Bosnian Serb, then Yugoslav, ichthyologist Stanko Karaman with its type locality given as Lake Prespa in the Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.^[2] This species is closely related to the schneider (Alburnoides bipunctatus) and all of the populations of schneider in the Balkans south of the Danube were considered to belong to the subspecies A. bipunctatus ohridanus.^[3] A. prespensis is now recognised as a valid species within the genus Alburnoides, ^[2] which is classified in the subfamily Leuciscinae of the family Leuciscidae.^[4]

Etymology

Alburnoides prespensis belongs to the genus Alburnoides, this name suffixes -oides on to the genus name Alburnus, which is Latin for whitefish but also refers to the bleak, a name which means pale in English, in reference to the pale non lustrous colour of Alburnus alburnus. The suffix -oides is used to indicate that this taxon is similar to Alburnus, with the type species of the Alburnoides being Alburnus maculatus. The specific name refers to the type locality, Lake Prespa in Greece, Albania and North Macedonia.^[5]

Description

Alburnoides prespensis is distinguished from other spirlins by having a terminal mouth with the cleft of the mouth only slightly slanted, an anal fin with between 10 and 11+1⁄2 branched rays, the lateral line has 40-43 scales, the caudal peduncle is between 1.8-2.2 times longer than it is deep, the snout is longer than diameter of the eye and the distance between the eyes is 1.2-1.4 times the diameter of the eye. This species has a maximum total length of 13.1 cm (5.2 in).^[6]

Distribution and habitat

Alburnoides prespensis is endmeic to the drainage basin of the Prespa lakes which straddles the borders of Albania, Greece and North Macedonia. Within the basin the Prespa spirlin is found in the littoral zone of the lake and in the streams and tivers flowing into the lake where it prefers clear, flowing well-oxygentaed water.^[1]