The Epiros minnow (''Pelasgus thesproticus''), or Thesprotian minnow, is a species of

freshwater Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. The term excludes seawater and brackish water, but it does include non-salty mi ...

ray-finned fish 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 species. It 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 Western Balkans.

Taxonomy

The Epiros minnow was first formally described as ''Leucaspius stymphalicus'' var. ''thesproticus'' in 1939 by the Greek

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 ...

Alexander I. Stephanidis with its type locality given as Paramythias marsh, Scoupitsa and Grica villages,

Thesprotia Thesprotia (; , ) is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the Epirus region. Its capital and largest town is Igoumenitsa. Thesprotia is named after the Thesprotians, an ancient Greek tribe that inhabited the region in antiquity. His ...

in Greece. This species is now classified in the genus ''

Pelasgus In Greek mythology, Pelasgus (, ''Pelasgós'' means "ancient") was the eponymous ancestor of the Pelasgians, the mythical inhabitants of Greece who established the worship of the Dodonaean Zeus, Hephaestus, the Cabeiri, and other divinities. In the ...

'' 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

The Epiros minnow belongs to the genus ''

'', this name is derived from the

Pelasgians The name Pelasgians (, ) was used by Classical Greek writers to refer either to the predecessors of the Greeks, or to all the inhabitants of Greece before the emergence of the Greeks. In general, "Pelasgian" has come to mean more broadly all ...

, the ancient people who lived around the

Aegean Sea The Aegean Sea is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea between Europe and Asia. It is located between the Balkans and Anatolia, and covers an area of some . In the north, the Aegean is connected to the Marmara Sea, which in turn con ...

before the arrival of the Indo-European speaking ancestors of the Greeks in the second millennium B.C.E., and alludes to the fishes in this genus all being found in the

Balkans The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throug ...

. 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 ...

, ''thesproticus'', means "of Threspotia", a reference to the type locality.

Description

The Epiros minnow 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 .

Distribution and habitat

The Epiros minnow is endemic to the Western Balkans where it is found in the northeastern Aegean Sea basin in Albania and Greece, including

Corfu Corfu ( , ) or Kerkyra (, ) is a Greece, Greek island in the Ionian Sea, of the Ionian Islands; including its Greek islands, small satellite islands, it forms the margin of Greece's northwestern frontier. The island is part of the Corfu (regio ...

. On the mainland its range extends from

Vjosa The Vjosa (; indefinite form: ) or Aoös () is a river in northwestern Greece and southwestern Albania. Its total length is about , of which the first are in Greece, and the remaining in Albania. Its drainage basin is and its average dischar ...

in Albania to the

Acheron The Acheron ( or ; ''Acheron'' or Ἀχερούσιος ''Acherousios''; ''Acherontas'') is a river in the Epirus (region), Epirus region of northwest Greece. It is long, and has a drainage area of . The river's source is located near the vil ...

in Greece. ''Pelasgus'' minnows in Laka Zazari (el. Ζαραβίνα) and the nerby portion of the upper

Thyamis The Thyamis (), also known as Glykys (Γλυκύς) or Kalamas (Καλαμάς), is a river in the Epirus region of Greece. The long, river flows into the Ionian Sea while on its course it drains an area of about , over 99% of which on Greek ter ...

are thought to be the possibly extinct '' P. epiroticus''. This species, like other members of its genus, prefers slow-moving to near-stagnant water bodies with abundant aquatic vegetation. These are mostly small streams, spring-fed wetlands and oligotrophic lakes, which can be located at altitudes from sea level to upland plateaus. It is also able to colonise artificial drainage canals. Some populations live in non perennial streams and small rivers, where they spend the dry periods in residual pools or perennial spring-fed stretches.

Conservation

The Epiros minnow is classified as

Near Threatened A near-threatened species is a species which has been Conservation status, categorized as "Near Threatened" (NT) by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as that may be vulnerable to Endangered species, endangerment in the ne ...

by the

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the stat ...

and it is threatened by habitat degradation, water abstraction, pollution and non-native invasive fishes.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5435500 Pelasgus (fish) Fauna of Albania Fauna of Greece Taxa named by Alexander I. Stephanidis Fish described in 1939 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot