''Luciobarbus'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

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 ...

es in 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 ...

Cyprinidae Cyprinidae is a family of freshwater fish commonly called the carp or minnow family, including the carps, the true minnows, and their relatives the barbs and barbels, among others. Cyprinidae is the largest and most diverse fish family, and t ...

. Its members are found in fresh and

brackish Brackish water, sometimes termed brack water, is water occurring in a natural environment that has more salinity than freshwater, but not as much as seawater. It may result from mixing seawater (salt water) and fresh water together, as in estuari ...

waters of

southern Europe Southern Europe is also known as Mediterranean Europe, as its geography is marked by the Mediterranean Sea. Definitions of southern Europe include some or all of these countries and regions: Albania, Andorra, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, C ...

northern Africa North Africa (sometimes Northern Africa) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region. However, it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of t ...

, the wider

Near East The Near East () is a transcontinental region around the Eastern Mediterranean encompassing the historical Fertile Crescent, the Levant, Anatolia, Egypt, Mesopotamia, and coastal areas of the Arabian Peninsula. The term was invented in the 20th ...

, the Aral and

Caspian Sea The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, described as the List of lakes by area, world's largest lake and usually referred to as a full-fledged sea. An endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia: east of the Caucasus, ...

s, and rivers associated with these. Several species in the genus are

threatened A threatened species is any species (including animals, plants and fungi) which is vulnerable to extinction in the near future. Species that are threatened are sometimes characterised by the population dynamics measure of ''critical depensatio ...

. Most species are fairly small to medium-sized cyprinids, but the genus also includes several members that can surpass in length and the largest, the mangar (''L. esocinus'') can reach .

Systematics

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 ...

is ''Luciobarbus esocinus'', for which the genus was established by Heckel in 1843. The

scientific name In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin gramm ...

essentially means "

pike Pike, Pikes or The Pike may refer to: Fish * Blue pike or blue walleye, an extinct color morph of the yellow walleye ''Sander vitreus'' * Ctenoluciidae, the "pike characins", some species of which are commonly known as pikes * ''Esox'', genus of ...

barbel Barbel may refer to: *Barbel (anatomy), a whisker-like organ near the mouth found in some fish (notably catfish, loaches and cyprinids) and turtles *Barbel (fish), a common name for certain species of fish **''Barbus barbus'', a species of cyprini ...

" (after the

northern pike The northern pike (''Esox lucius'') is a species of carnivorous fish of the genus ''Esox'' (pikes). They are commonly found in brackish water, moderately salty and fresh waters of the Northern Hemisphere (''i.e.'' holarctic in distribution). T ...

, ''Esox lucius''). Like many other

cyprinid Cyprinidae is a Family (biology), family of freshwater fish commonly called the carp or minnow family, including the carps, the true minnows, and their relatives the barb (fish), barbs and barbel (fish), barbels, among others. Cyprinidae is the ...

s, the present genus was long included in ''

Barbus ''Barbus'' is a genus of ray-finned fish in the family Cyprinidae. The type species of ''Barbus'' is the common barbel, first described as ''Cyprinus barbus'' and now named ''Barbus barbus''. ''Barbus'' is the namesake genus of the subfamily Ba ...

''. It appears to be a very close relative of the typical barbels – which include that genus

, ''Barbus barbus'' –, and may well warrant inclusion in ''Barbus''. Many modern authors prefer to consider it a

subgenus In biology, a subgenus ( subgenera) is a taxonomic rank directly below genus. In the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, a subgeneric name can be used independently or included in a species name, in parentheses, placed between the ge ...

instead. It is, moreover, not entirely clear what species to place in ''Luciobarbus'' if it is deemed valid. The

IUCN 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 status ...

argues for a rather inclusive circumscription. Nonwithstanding the

taxonomy image:Hierarchical clustering diagram.png, 280px, Generalized scheme of taxonomy Taxonomy is a practice and science concerned with classification or categorization. Typically, there are two parts to it: the development of an underlying scheme o ...

and

systematics Systematics is the study of the diversification of living forms, both past and present, and the relationships among living things through time. Relationships are visualized as evolutionary trees (synonyms: phylogenetic trees, phylogenies). Phy ...

of this ill-defined assemblage, their closest living relative is probably '' Aulopyge huegelii''.de Graaf ''et al.'' (2007), Almodóvar ''et al.'' (2008), IUCN (2009)

Species

''Luciobarbus'' contains the following recognised species: * ''

Luciobarbus albanicus The Albanian barbel (''Luciobarbus albanicus'') is a species of freshwater ray-finned fish in the family Cyprinidae, which includes the carps and barbs. This species is found in the Western Balkans. Taxonomy The Albanian barbel was first formal ...

'' (

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 descri ...

, 1870) (Albanian barbel) * '' Luciobarbus amguidensis'' ( Pellegrin 1934) * '' Luciobarbus antinorii'' ( Boulenger, 1911) * '' Luciobarbus barbulus'' ( Heckel, 1847) * '' Luciobarbus biscarensis'' (Boulenger 1911) * ''

Luciobarbus bocagei ''Luciobarbus bocagei'' is a ray-finned fish species in the family Cyprinidae. Its scientific name honours the Portuguese zoologist and politician Jose Vicente Barboza du Bocage. It is here placed in '' Luciobarbus'' following the IUCN, but that ...

'' (

, 1864) * '' Luciobarbus brachycephalus'' ( Kessler, 1872) (Aral barb) * '' Luciobarbus callensis'' (

Valenciennes Valenciennes (, also , , ; ; or ; ) is a communes of France, commune in the Nord (French department), Nord Departments of France, department, Hauts-de-France, France. It lies on the Scheldt () river. Although the city and region experienced ...

, 1842) (Algerian barb) * '' Luciobarbus capito'' ( Güldenstädt, 1773) (Bulatmai barbel) * '' Luciobarbus caspius'' (

Berg Berg may refer to: People *Berg (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) * General Berg (disambiguation) * Berg Ng (born 1960), Hong Kong actor * Berg (footballer, born 1963), Ninimbergue dos Santos Guerra, Brazilian footba ...

, 1914) (Caspian barbel) * '' Luciobarbus chelifensis'' Brahimi, Freyhof, Henrard & Libois, 2017 * ''

Luciobarbus comizo The Iberian barbel (''Luciobarbus comizo'') is a ray-finned fish species in the family Cyprinidae. It is here placed in '' Luciobarbus'' following the IUCN, but that genus is very closely related to the other typical barbels and perhaps better co ...

'' (Steindachner, 1864) (Iberian barbel) * '' Luciobarbus conocephalus'' (Kessler, 1872) * '' Luciobarbus esocinus'' Heckel, 1843 (Mangar) * '' Luciobarbus figuigensis'' (Pellegrin, 1913) * '' Luciobarbus graecus'' (Steindachner, 1895) * ''

Luciobarbus graellsii ''Luciobarbus graellsii'' is a ray-finned fish species in the family Cyprinidae. It is here placed in '' Luciobarbus'' following the IUCN, but that genus is very closely related to the other typical barbels and perhaps better considered a mere su ...

'' (Steindachner, 1866) * '' Luciobarbus guercifensis'' Doadrio,

Perea Perea or Peraea (Greek: Περαία, " the country beyond") was the term used mainly during the early Roman period for part of ancient Transjordan. It lay broadly east of Judea and Samaria, which were situated on the western side of the Jorda ...

& Yahyaoui, 2016 (Guercif barbel) * ''

Luciobarbus guiraonis ''Luciobarbus guiraonis'' is a ray-finned fish species in the family Cyprinidae. It is here placed in '' Luciobarbus'' following the IUCN, but that genus is very closely related to the other typical barbels and perhaps better considered a mere su ...

'' (Steindachner, 1866) * '' Luciobarbus issenensis'' (Pellegrin, 1922) * '' Luciobarbus kersin'' (Heckel, 1843) (Kersin barbel) * '' Luciobarbus ksibi'' (Boulenger, 1905) * '' Luciobarbus lanigarensis'' Brahimi, Libois, Henrard & Freyhof, 2018 * ''

Luciobarbus lepineyi ''Luciobarbus lepineyi'', the Draa barbel, is a doubtfully distinct ray-finned fish species in the family Cyprinidae. It is found only in Morocco. Its natural habitat is freshwater rivers in the Ziz, Noun and Draa river drainages, in the centra ...

'' (Pellegrin, 1939) * '' Luciobarbus leptopogon'' G. H. W. Schimper, 1834 * '' Luciobarbus longiceps''

, 1842 (Jordan barbel) * '' Luciobarbus lorteti'' ( Sauvage 1882) * '' Luciobarbus maghrebensis'' Doadrio, Perea & Yahyaoui, 2015 (Maghreb barbel) * '' Luciobarbus magniatlantis'' (Pellegrin, 1920) * '' Luciobarbus mascarensis'' Brahimi, Freyhof, Henrard & Libois, 2017 * '' Luciobarbus massaensis'' (Pellegrin,, 1922) * ''

Luciobarbus microcephalus ''Luciobarbus microcephalus'' is a ray-finned fish species in the family Cyprinidae. It is here placed in '' Luciobarbus'' following the IUCN, but that genus is very closely related to the other typical barbels and perhaps better considered a mer ...

'' ( Almaça ( pt), 1967) * '' Luciobarbus mursa'' (Güldenstädt, 1773) * '' Luciobarbus mystaceus'' (

Pallas Pallas may refer to: Astronomy * 2 Pallas asteroid ** Pallas family, a group of asteroids that includes 2 Pallas * Pallas (crater), a crater on Earth's moon Mythology * Pallas (Giant), a son of Uranus and Gaia, killed and flayed by Athena * Pa ...

, 1814) (Euphrates barbel) * '' Luciobarbus nasus'' ( Günther, 1874) * '' Luciobarbus numidiensis'' Brahimi, Libois, Henrard & Freyhof, 2018 * '' Luciobarbus pallaryi'' (Pellegrin, 1920) * '' Luciobarbus pectoralis'' (Heckel, 1843) (Heckel's Orontes barbel) * '' Luciobarbus rabatensis'' Doadrio, Perea & Yahyaoui, 2015 (Rabat barbel) * '' Luciobarbus rifensis'' Doadrio, Casal-López & Yahyaoui, 2015 (Rifian barbel) * ''

Luciobarbus sclateri The Andalusian barbel (''Luciobarbus sclateri''), also called gypsy barbel (which is a direct translation of ), is a freshwater fish species in the family Cyprinidae. It is here placed in ''Luciobarbus'' following the IUCN, but that genus is ver ...

'' (Günther, 1868) (Andalusian barbel) * '' Luciobarbus setivimensis'' (Valenciennes, 1842) * ''

Luciobarbus steindachneri ''Luciobarbus steindachneri'' is a species of cyprinid fish. It is here placed in ''Luciobarbus'' following the IUCN, but that genus is very closely related to the other typical barbels and perhaps better considered a mere subgenus of ''Barbus''. ...

'' (Almaça, 1967) * '' Luciobarbus subquincunciatus'' (Günther, 1868) (Mesopotamian barbel) * '' Luciobarbus xanthopterus'' Heckel, 1843 (Yellowfin barbel) * '' Luciobarbus yahyaouii'' Doadrio, Casal-López & Perea, 2016 (Yahyaoui barbel) * '' Luciobarbus zayanensis'' Doadrio, Casal-López & Yahyaoui 2016 (Zayan barbel)

References

* (2008): Natural hybridization of ''Barbus bocagei'' x ''Barbus comizo'' (Cyprinidae) in Tagus River basin, central Spain nglish with French abstract ''Cybium'' 32(2): 99-102
PDF fulltext
* (2007): Evolutionary origin of Lake Tana's (Ethiopia) small ''Barbus'' species: indications of rapid ecological divergence and speciation. '' Anim. Biol.'' 57(1): 39-48. (HTML abstract) {{Taxonbar, from=Q93912 Barbinae Cyprinidae genera taxa named by Johann Jakob Heckel