''Alburnoides strymonicus'', the Struma spirlin, is a species of freshwater

ray-finned fish Actinopterygii (; ), members of which are known as ray-finned fish or actinopterygians, is a class of bony fish that comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species. They are so called because of their lightly built fins made of webbings of sk ...

belonging to the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Leuciscidae Leuciscidae is a family of freshwater ray-finned fishes, formerly classified as a subfamily of the Cyprinidae, which contains the true minnows. Members of the Old World (OW) clade of minnows within this subfamily are known as European minnow ...

, which includes the daces, minnows and related fishes. This fish is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to the drainage system of the Struma (Strymónas) River in Bulgaria, Greece and North Macedonia.

Taxonomy

''Alburnoides strymonicus'' was first formally described in 1940 by the Bulgarian biologist Georgi Chichkoff with its type locality given as the Toplitza River and Struma River in Bulgaria. Previously all of the spirlins found in Greece were considered to be of the subspecies '' Alburnoides bipunctatus thessalicus'' but this was reclassified as the species '' A. thessalicus''. ''A. thessalicus'' is now considered to be found only in the Pineios,

Haliacmon The Haliacmon (, ''Aliákmonas''; formerly: , ''Aliákmon'' or ''Haliákmōn'') is the longest river flowing entirely in Greece, with a total length of . In Greece there are three rivers longer than Haliacmon: Maritsa (), Struma (Strymónas), bot ...

and

Vardar The Vardar (; , , ) or Axios (, ) is the longest river in North Macedonia and a major river in Greece, where it reaches the Aegean Sea at Thessaloniki. It is long, out of which are in Greece, and drains an area of around . The maximum depth of ...

rivers with ''A. strymonicus'' being described from the Strymónas. However, some authors continued to regard this taxon as a valid subspecies of the schneider. It is now regarded as a valid species which is classified in the genus ''

Alburnoides ''Alburnoides'' is a genus of freshwater ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Leuciscidae. The fishes in this genus are found in Europe and Asia. Many species are known as riffle minnows or spirlins. Species These are the currently recogni ...

'' within the

subfamily In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end botanical subfamily names with "-oideae", and zo ...

Leuciscinae Leuciscinae is a subfamily of freshwater Actinopterygii, ray-finned fishes belonging to the Family (biology), family Leuciscidae, which includes the fishes known as daces, chubs, shiners and minnows. The fishes in this subfamily are mainly found i ...

of the family

Etymology

''Alburnoides strymonicus'' belongs to the genus ''Alburnoides'', this name suffixes ''-oides'' on to the genus name ''

Alburnus ''Alburnus'' is a genus of fish in the family Leuciscidae, the daces and minnows. They are known commonly as bleaks. A group of species in the genus is known as shemayas. The genus occurs in the western Palearctic realm, and the center of diversi ...

'', which is

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

for whitefish but also refers to the

bleak Bleak may refer to: Fish * Species of the genus ''Alburnus'' * Some species of the genus ''Acanthobrama'' * ''Alburnoides bipunctatus'', also known as the schneider * ''Alburnoides oblongus'', Tashkent riffle bleak * ''Aphyocypris chinensis'', Chi ...

, a name which means pale in English, in reference to the pale non lustrous colour of ''

Alburnus alburnus The bleak or common bleak (''Alburnus alburnus'') is a small freshwater coarse fish of the family Leuciscidae, which includes the minnows, daces and bleaks. The common bleak is found in Europe and Western Asia. Description The body of the ...

''. 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 Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

, means "belonging to the Strymon", the ancient name for the River Struma, the type locality.

Identification

''Alburoides strymonicus'' is a small fish with a maximum

standard length Fish measurement is the measuring of individual fish and various parts of fish anatomy, their anatomies, for data used in many areas of ichthyology, including Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy and fishery biology. Overall length Standard length (SL) is ...

of . A combination of morphological and skeletal features distinguish this species from other spirlins.

Distribution and habitat

''Alburnoides strymonicus'' is found in the Struma and Nestos river systems in Bulgaria, Greece and North Macedonia, as well as the Marmaras Stream drainage in Greece.This fish lives streams and in the middle stretches of rivers with modreate to fast currents, it can also be found in reservoirs.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q67183794 strymonicus Fish described in 1940