''Parachondrostoma miegii'', the Ebro nase, 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. Eurasian minnows and related fishes. This species 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 Spain.

Taxonomy

''Parachondrostoma miegii'' was first formally described as ''Chondrostoma miegii'' in 1866 by the Austrian

ichthyologist Ichthyology is the branch of zoology devoted to the study of fish, including bony fish (Osteichthyes), cartilaginous fish (Chondrichthyes), and jawless fish (Agnatha). According to FishBase, 35,800 species of fish had been described as of March 2 ...

Franz Steindachner Franz Steindachner (11 November 1834 in Vienna – 10 December 1919 in Vienna) was an Austrian zoologist, ichthyologist, and herpetologist. He published over 200 papers on fishes and over 50 papers on reptiles and amphibians. Steindachner des ...

with its type locality given as the

Ebro River The Ebro (Spanish and Basque ; , , ) is a river of the north and northeast of the Iberian Peninsula, in Spain. It rises in Cantabria and flows , almost entirely in an east-southeast direction. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea, forming a del ...

Bilbao Bilbao is a city in northern Spain, the largest city in the Provinces of Spain, province of Biscay and in the Basque Country (greater region), Basque Country as a whole. It is also the largest city proper in northern Spain. Bilbao is the List o ...

, Spain. It is now classified as a valid species in the genus ''

Parachondrostoma ''Parachondrostoma'' is a genus of freshwater ray-finned fish belonging to the family Leuciscidae, which includes the daces, Eurasian minnows and related species. This species in this genus are found mostly in Spain with one species entering Fran ...

'' 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

, this species being the

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

of that genus. The genus was proposed in 2007 for four species which were split from ''Chondrostoma'' on the basis of genetic evidence.

Etymology

''Parachondrostoma miegii'' belongs to the genus ''

'', this name places the prefix ''para-'', meaning "near to" or "similar to" in front of the genus name ''

Chondrostoma ' (from the Ancient Greek roots (''khondros'') 'lump' + (''stoma'') 'mouth' = 'lump-mouth') is a genus of ray-finned fish in the family Leuciscidae. They are commonly known as nases, although this term is also used locally to denote particu ...

'', which is a combination of ''chondros'', a word meaning "gristle" or "cartilage", with ''stoma'', meaning "mouth". This is an allusion to the horny plates in the mouths of the fishes in ''Chondrostoma'' . 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 ...

, ''miegi'', honours someone not identified by Steindachner but it may be the Swiss-Spanish naturalist .

Description

''Parachondrostoma miegii'' can be told apart from its congeners by having a slightly pointed snout, the rostral cap is visible in a ventral view, the

lateral line The lateral line, also called the lateral line organ (LLO), is a system of sensory organs found in fish, used to detect movement, vibration, and pressure gradients in the surrounding water. The sensory ability is achieved via modified epithelia ...

has between 45 and 56 scales and the

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 ...

is between 3.7 and 4.4 times the depth. The Ebro nase has a maximum published standard length of .

Distribution and habitat

''Parachondrostoma miegii'' is endemic to northeastern Spain, where it occurs in rivers draining to the Cantabrian and

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

sea basins. In the Cantabrian Sea it is found from the

Pas River The Pas River is located in the region of Cantabria in the northern part of Spain. The river flows through the autonomous community of Cantabria and empties into the Cantabric Sea. See also * List of rivers of Spain This is an incomplete lis ...

Cantabria Cantabria (, ; ) is an autonomous community and Provinces of Spain, province in northern Spain with Santander, Cantabria, Santander as its capital city. It is called a , a Nationalities and regions of Spain, historic community, in its current ...

to the

Bidasoa River __NOTOC__ The Bidasoa (; ; , ) is a river in the Basque Country of northern Spain and southern France that runs largely south to north. Named as such downstream of the village of Oronoz-Mugairi (municipality of Baztan) in the province of Navar ...

in the Basque Country. In the Mediterranean drainage, it is found from he

Llobregat River The Llobregat () is the second longest river in Catalonia, Spain, after the Ter. It flows into the Mediterranean south of the city of Barcelona. Its name could have originated in an ancient Latin word meaning 'dark', 'muddy' or 'slippery', or ...

in Catalonia southward to the Ebro and Cenia rivers in the

Valencian Community The Valencian Community is an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain. It is the fourth most populous Spanish Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community after Andalusia, Catalonia and the Community of Madrid wit ...

. There is an isolated population, which is thought to be of this species, in the upper

Tagus The Tagus ( ; ; ) is the longest river in the Iberian Peninsula. The river rises in the Montes Universales between Cuenca and Teruel, in mid-eastern Spain, flows , generally westward, and empties into the Atlantic Ocean in Lisbon. Name T ...

drainage above the Entrepeñas dam and reservoir in Castilla-La Mancha. The Ebro nase is found in fast-flowing, perennial river and stream stretches. However, in some of these waters there is a wide variation in water level, seasonally and annually, with some stretches drying out. When this happens some fishes use isolated permanent shady pools as refuges.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1383463 miegii Endemic fauna of Spain Endemic fish of the Iberian Peninsula Cyprinid fish of Europe Fish described in 1866 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot