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The ''Valencia hispanica'' or Valencia toothcarp ( ca-valencia, samaruc) is a species of freshwater fish in the family
Centro de Acuicultura Experimental
The ''Valencia hispanica'' or Valencia toothcarp ( ca-valencia, samaruc) is a species of freshwater fish in the family Valenciidae
''Valencia'' is the only genus in the family Valenciidae. ''Valencia'' is a genus of ray-finned fishes. It is sometimes grouped into the family Cyprinodontidae. Members of this genus are restricted to southern Europe.
Species
There are curre ...
endemic to the south of Catalonia and the Valencian Community, Spain. There is at least one historical record of this species from near Perpignan
Perpignan (, , ; ca, Perpinyà ; es, Perpiñán ; it, Perpignano ) is the prefecture of the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France, in the heart of the plain of Roussillon, at the foot of the Pyrenees a few kilometres from the ...
in France but the species has been extirpated from that country.
Its natural habitat are marshes, freshwater springs, coastal freshwater lagoons and acequias which may connect these. It is threatened by pollution and habitat loss.
Description
It is a small fish of a light brown to yellow colour. Adult males oscillate between 4–8 cm and can be distinguished from females in that the rim of their fins is orangish. Also, females are slightly larger than their male counterparts of the same age. It is a gregarious fish forming small shoals. The species iscarnivorous
A carnivore , or meat-eater (Latin, ''caro'', genitive ''carnis'', meaning meat or "flesh" and ''vorare'' meaning "to devour"), is an animal or plant whose food and energy requirements derive from animal tissues (mainly muscle, fat and other sof ...
, feeding on insects, larvae, worms, etc.
Conservation status
Valencia toothcarp is listed as an endangered species by Spanish and international legislation. Its populations dwindled as a result ofland reclamation
Land reclamation, usually known as reclamation, and also known as land fill (not to be confused with a waste landfill), is the process of creating new land from oceans, seas, riverbeds or lake beds. The land reclaimed is known as reclamati ...
, a phenomenon quite intense in Valencia during the 1980s as a part of the touristic boom. The increased human population which followed also brought increased pollution and introduced species, both factors further damaging the ''samaruc'' populations.
It has been recently object of a conservation and reintroduction
Species reintroduction is the deliberate release of a species into the wild, from captivity or other areas where the organism is capable of survival. The goal of species reintroduction is to establish a healthy, genetically diverse, self-sustainin ...
program carried out by the Environment department of the Valencian regional government which has sought to reverse further declines.See also
* ''Valencia letourneuxi
''Valencia letourneuxi'', the Corfu toothcarp, is a species of fish
Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bo ...
''
*''Fartet
The Spanish toothcarp (''Aphanius iberus''), also known as the Spanish pupfish or Iberian killifish, is a small, Endemism, endemic species of fish in the family (biology), family Cyprinodontidae. Its risk of extinction is one of the greatest of a ...
''
References
External links
* {{Taxonbar, from=Q998590 Endemic fish of the Iberian Peninsula Endemic fauna of Spain Fish described in 1846 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Valencia tooth carp