''Iberochondrostoma almacai'', the Southwestern arched-mouth 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 ...

. 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 southern

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

, where it is only found in the drainages of the

Mira Mira (), designation Omicron Ceti (ο Ceti, abbreviated Omicron Cet, ο Cet), is a red-giant star estimated to be 200–300 light-years from the Sun in the constellation Cetus. ο Ceti is a binary stellar system, consisting of a vari ...

Arade The Arade () is a river located in the region of the Algarve, southern Portugal. the river's course takes it through the municipalities of Silves, Lagoa and Portimão. The river remains navigable from the breakwaters at Portimao to the town of ...

and Bensafrim rivers. It shelters in pools when the rivers shrink in the summer and is threatened by

habitat destruction Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss or habitat reduction) occurs when a natural habitat is no longer able to support its native species. The organisms once living there have either moved elsewhere, or are dead, leading to a decrease ...

caused by water abstraction and predation and competition from introduced species of fish such as ''

Gambusia ''Gambusia'' is a large genus of viviparous fish in the family Poeciliidae (order Cyprinodontiformes). ''Gambusia'' contains over 40 species, most of which are principally found in freshwater habitats, though some species may also be found in bra ...

'', ''

Micropterus ''Micropterus'' is a genus of North American freshwater fish collectively known as the black bass, which belong to the sunfish family (biology), family Centrarchidae of order (biology), order Centrarchiformes. They are sometimes erroneously cal ...

'' and ''

Lepomis ''Lepomis'' or true sunfish is a genus of North American freshwater fish from the family (biology), family Centrarchidae in the order (biology), order Centrarchiformes. The generic name (biology), generic name ''Lepomis'' derives from the Greek l ...

''.

References

* Iberochondrostoma Endemic fauna of Portugal Endemic fish of the Iberian Peninsula Fish described in 2005 {{Leuciscinae-stub