Stone loach | |
---|---|
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Actinopterygii |
Order: | Cypriniformes |
Family: | Nemacheilidae |
Genus: | Barbatula |
Species: | B. barbatula |
Binomial name | |
Barbatula barbatula | |
Synonyms [2] | |
The stone loach (Barbatula barbatula) is a European species of fresh water ray-finned fish in the family Nemacheilidae. It is one of nineteen species in the genus Barbatula . Stone loaches live amongst the gravel and stones of fast flowing water where they can search for food. The most distinctive feature of this small fish is the presence of barbels around the bottom jaw, which they use to detect their invertebrate prey. The body is a mixture of brown, green and yellow.
The stone loach is a small, slender bottom-dwelling fish that can grow to a length of 21 cm (8.3 in), but typically is around 12 cm (5 in). [3] Its eyes are situated high on its head and it has three pairs of short barbels on its lower jaw below its mouth. It has a rounded body that is not much laterally flattened and is a little less deep in the body than the spined loach (Cobitis taenia) and lacks that fish's spines beneath the eye. It has rounded dorsal and caudal fins with their tips slightly notched, but the spined loach has even more rounded fins. The general colour of this fish is yellowish-brown with blotches and vertical bands of darker colour. An indistinct dark line runs from the snout to the eye. The fins are brownish with faint dark banding. [4]
The stone loach is a common species and is found over most of Europe in suitable clear rivers and streams with gravel and sandy bottoms. It is present in upland areas, also chalk streams, lakes and reservoirs as long as the water is well-oxygenated. These fish sometimes venture into estuaries but not into brackish water. They live on the bottom, often partly buried, and they are particularly active at night when they rootle among the sand and gravel for the small invertebrates on which they feed. [4]
It is found in Baltic states, Eastern Europe, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Moldova, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. It has been extirpated from Greece. [1]
The larvae of stone loaches are benthic, they and small juveniles prefer sandy substrates with a slower current, as they grow they move on to gravel bottoms and faster currents. As adults they prey on relatively large benthic invertebrates such as gammarids, chironomids and other insect larvae. [3] It normally feeds at nights when it uses the barbels around its mouth to detect its prey. [5] They are tolerant of moderate organic pollution and stream canalization but they are highly sensitive to heavy metal pollution, chemical pollution and low oxygen levels which mean that the presence of stone loaches in a river is an indicator of good water quality. [3] They are short-lived fish, normally living to age 3–4 years with 5 years being exceptional. [6]
Stone loaches breed over gravel or sand or among aquatic vegetation. In streams with low productivity spawning may be annual but where the water has higher productivity there may be multiple spawning events within a season. The females release eggs in open water, often close to the surface. The eggs drift and adhere to different substrates and are often covered by sand or detritus. A female stone loach may spawn each day for short periods. [3] In Great Britain spawning lasts from April to August and the females may lay as many as 10,000 eggs. [5]
The goatfishes are ray-finned fish of the family Mullidae, the only family in the suborder Mulloidei of the order Syngnathiformes. The family is also sometimes referred to as the red mullets, which also refers more narrowly to the genus Mullus.
The clown loach, or tiger botia, is a tropical freshwater fish belonging to the botiid loach family. It is the sole member of the genus Chromobotia. It originates in inland waters in Indonesia on the islands of Sumatra and Borneo. In Sentarum, West Borneo that fish named: ulanguli. It is a popular fish in the freshwater aquarium trade and is sold worldwide.
The brown bullhead is a fish of the family Ictaluridae that is widely distributed in North America. It is a species of bullhead catfish and is similar to the black bullhead and yellow bullhead. It was originally described as Pimelodus nebulosus by Charles Alexandre Lesueur in 1819, and is also referred to as Ictalurus nebulosus.
The spined loach is a common freshwater fish in Europe. It is sometimes known as spotted weather loach, not to be confused with the "typical" weather loaches of the genus Misgurnus. This is the type species of the spiny loach genus (Cobitis) and the true loach family (Cobitidae).
The pond loach, also known as the Dojo loach, oriental weatherloach or oriental weatherfish, is a freshwater fish in the loach family Cobitidae. They are native to East Asia, but are also popular as an aquarium fish and introduced elsewhere in Asia and to Europe, America and Australia. The alternate name weather loach is shared with several other Cobitidae, including the other members of the genus Misgurnus and the spotted weather loach. This term comes from their ability to detect changes in barometric pressure before a storm and react with frantic swimming or standing on end.
The slimy sculpin is a freshwater species of fish belonging to the family Cottidae, which is the largest sculpin family. They usually inhabit cold rocky streams or lakes across North America, ranging from the Great Lakes, southeast Minnesota, northeast Iowa, southwest Wisconsin and northeast Canada. Slimy sculpins have also been found roaming the cold streams of eastern Siberia. They are commonly confused with their closely related relatives, Mottled sculpin, and with tubenose gobies who are both freshwater fishes as well. The slimy sculpin is a nocturnal fish that usually spends most of its time on the stream bottom and seeks shelter under rocks and logs, especially during spawning season. When it swims, it sometimes appears to be "hopping" along the bottom because of its inefficient ability to swim. This is partly due to the absence of a swim bladder, which normally gives buoyancy to a fish.
The Roanoke logperch is a species of freshwater ray-finned fish, a darter from the subfamily Etheostomatinae, part of the family Percidae, which also contains the perches, ruffes and pikeperches. It is found in the Roanoke and Chowan drainages in Virginia and North Carolina in the United States. It inhabits low and moderate-gradient streams and rivers in warm, clear water in mostly unsilted gravel and rubble in runs, pools, and riffles. It is primarily insectivorous. This fish is a federally listed endangered species.
Romanogobio uranoscopus, also known as the Danubian longbarbel gudgeon, Danubian gudgeon, Danube gudgeon or the steingressling, is a European species of freshwater cyprinid fish. It can be found in Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovakia, Slovenia and Ukraine.
The ayumodoki or kissing loach is a species of ray-finned fish in the family Botiidae. It is found in lakes and streams on Honshu, the largest island in Japan. Spawning grounds for kissing loach are ditches and small reservoirs for rice cultivation of a river system located in Japan. The kissing loach migrates to flooded areas, including paddy field areas, for spawning in early summer and the spawning of this species is limited after the formation of flooded areas over terrestrial vegetation. These flooded areas are the result of water from mountain streams and irrigation ponds flooding once dry land and creating man-made wetlands. As adults, Parabotia curtus migrate from these flooded paddy fields to fast moving, muddy streams and rivers like the Yodo River.
The channel darter is a species of freshwater ray-finned fish, a darter from the subfamily Etheostomatinae, part of the family Percidae, which also contains the perches, ruffes and pikeperches. It is native to North America where it typically occurs in the sandy or gravelly shallows of lakes and in small and medium-sized rivers in riffles over sand, gravel or rock bottoms. It is a small fish ranging from 34 to 72 mm in length, olive brown with darker speckles and sometimes with a dark spot below the eye and dark blotches along the flank. It feeds mostly on insect larvae and other small invertebrates and breeds in small streams. This species is listed as threatened by the Canadian Species at Risk Act (SARA) but overall it has a wide range and numerous sub-populations and the International Union for Conservation of Nature has rated it as a "least concern species".
Coastal fish, also called inshore fish or neritic fish, inhabit the sea between the shoreline and the edge of the continental shelf. Since the continental shelf is usually less than 200 metres (660 ft) deep, it follows that pelagic coastal fish are generally epipelagic fish, inhabiting the sunlit epipelagic zone. Coastal fish can be contrasted with oceanic fish or offshore fish, which inhabit the deep seas beyond the continental shelves.
The bigeye shiner is a species of ray-finned fish in the genus Notropis. This fish is a slender, silvery minnow with a dusky lateral stripe and a maximum total length of about 80 mm (3.1 in). Its distinct characteristic is its large-diameter eyes. It is a common species in upland streams of the middle Mississippi River system. Bigeye shiners prefer warm, quiet pools with clear water and silt-free substrates. Siltation, channelization, and gravel dredging are all threats to bigeye shiner populations. During spawning season, typically late April to August, bigeye shiners have several clutches of eggs. State agencies and the EPA have both played a role in the surveying of bigeye shiner populations. Populations have decreased in Ohio due mostly to habitat destruction. In addition to habitat destruction by humans, habitat alteration of the small streams and dried pools has also had a significant effect on abundance. Rivers and streams should not be channelized or modified in any way, which is becoming an increasingly popular trend in urban locations. Agricultural areas and properties within the watershed should adhere to regulations to prevent runoff into the streams.
Oxynoemacheilus frenatus, the banded Tigris loach, is a species of ray-finned fish in the genus Oxynoemacheilus. This species is widespread in the upper drainage basin of the Tigris in Turkey, Syria and Iraq where it can be locally very common. It can be found in habitats varying from streams with a moderately fast current to near standing waters in springs, streams and rivers which have beds of gravel or mud. Academically speaking, it inhabits fast-flowing streams and rivers with rocky substrates.
The common dragonet is a species of dragonet which is widely distributed in the eastern North Atlantic where it is common near Europe from Norway and Iceland southwards. It is a demersal species that occurs over sand bottoms. It lives to a maximum age of around seven years. It is caught in bycatch by fisheries and is used in the aquarium trade.
Noturus flavus, the stonecat, is a North American freshwater catfish of the family Ictaluridae. The common name is due to its habit of hiding near or under stones in fast-moving water.
Mylopharodon conocephalus, known as the hardhead, is a freshwater ray-finned fish from the family Cyprinidae, the carps and minnows, which is endemic to California. It is the sole member of the monotypic genus Mylopharodon.
The true Kuhli loach, which can be used synonymously with "coolie" loach, occasionally referred to as eel loach, is a small eel-like freshwater fish belonging to the loach family (Cobitidae). They originate from the island of Java in Indonesia. This serpentine, worm-shaped creature is very slender and nocturnal. Its distinctive orange-pink coloration with triangular black stripes and long lifespan makes it a popular aquarium species.
The creek chubsucker is a freshwater fish of the sucker family (Catostomidae).
Gobio gobio, or the gudgeon, is a species of fish in the family Cyprinidae. This small fish is widely distributed in fresh-water streams and lakes across central and temperate Eurasia.
Synocrossus beauforti, the barred loach, chameleon loach or chameleon botia, is a species of freshwater fish from the loach family Botiidae which is found in mainland south-east Asia.
Media related to Barbatula barbatula at Wikimedia Commons