Tropidophoxinellus spartiaticus, the Spartian minnowroach, is a species of freshwater ray-finned fish belonging to the familyLeuciscidae, which includes the daces, Eurasian minnows and related species. This fish is endemic to southern Greece.
Tropidophoxinellus spartiaticus is the type species of the genus Tropidophoxinellus, a name which prefixes the minnow genus name Phoxinus with trophidos, the genitive of tropis, which means "keel" and is an allusion to the scaleless keel which runs from the pelvic fins to the anus. The specific name, spartiaticus, means "of Sparta", the polis which dominated the Peloponnese in the Classical period.[4]
Description
Tropidophoxinellus spartiaticus can be told apart from T. hellenicus by having a terminal mouth with the upper jaw just projecting beyond the lower and having between 40 and 44 scales along the lateral line. This species has a maximum standard length of 9.5cm (3.7in).[5]
Distribution and habitat
Tropidophoxinellus spartiaticus is endemic to the southwestern Greece. Here it is restricted to the southern Peloponnese where it is found from the Neda to the Evrotas where it is commonest in slow-flowing perennial reaches where there is a dense growth of aquatic vegetation.
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