The Mongolian grayling (''Thymallus brevirostris'') is a freshwater species of fish of the genus ''

Thymallus ''Thymallus'', commonly known as graylings, is a genus of freshwater ray-finned fish and the only genus within the subfamily Thymallinae of the family Salmonidae. Although all ''Thymallus'' species can be generically called graylings, withou ...

'' endemic to the landlocked rivers in

Mongolia Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south and southeast. It covers an area of , with a population of 3.5 million, making it the world's List of countries and dependencies by po ...

, Inner Mongolia Province of China and nearby parts of

Russian far east The Russian Far East ( rus, Дальний Восток России, p=ˈdalʲnʲɪj vɐˈstok rɐˈsʲiɪ) is a region in North Asia. It is the easternmost part of Russia and the Asia, Asian continent, and is coextensive with the Far Easte ...

. It is considered to be the largest grayling species in the world, and hence viewed as an auspicious sign by local tribes.

Description

Mongolian grayling grow to a recorded maximum length of 65 cm (26 inches). The dorsal side is blackish, and the abdominal side is light. Black spots are uniformly present on both sides of the body. In adults, their upper jaw extends at least below the posterior edge of the eye. The Mongolian grayling is considered by researchers to be a relic from the

Tertiary period The Tertiary ( ) is an obsolete Period (geology), geologic period spanning 66 million to 2.6 or 1.8 million years ago. The period began with the extinction of the non-bird, avian dinosaurs in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, at t ...

Distribution

The Mongolian grayling is native to the landlocked lake region of Mongolia and the nearby Russian and Chinese areas, such as

Khovd River Khovd River (, ) is a river in western Mongolia. It flows from Tavan Bogd mountain of the Altai Mountains in Bayan-Ölgii Province to Khar-Us Lake. The length of the river is 516 kilometres. See also *List of rivers of Mongolia This is a ...

Issyk-Kul Lake Issyk-Kul () or Ysyk-Köl (, ; ) is an endorheic saline lake in the western Tianshan Mountains in eastern Kyrgyzstan, just south of a dividing range separating Kyrgyzstan from Kazakhstan. It is the List of lakes by depth, eighth-deepest lake in t ...

and other rivers and lakes of the

Altai Mountains The Altai Mountains (), also spelled Altay Mountains, are a mountain range in Central Asia, Central and East Asia, where Russia, China, Mongolia, and Kazakhstan converge, and where the rivers Irtysh and Ob River, Ob have their headwaters. The ...

, with Arctic graylings and their hybrids often found together. It is mostly found in the Central Asian basin of western Mongolia and the border region with

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...

, as well as the

Tuva Republic Tuva (; ) or Tyva (; ), officially the Republic of Tyva,; , is a republic of Russia. Tuva lies at the geographical center of Asia, in southern Siberia. The republic borders the federal subjects of the Altai Republic, Buryatia, Irkutsk ...

in southern

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

Life cycle

The Mongolian grayling is

omnivorous An omnivore () is an animal that regularly consumes significant quantities of both plant and animal matter. Obtaining energy and nutrients from plant and animal matter, omnivores digest carbohydrates, protein, fat, and fiber, and metabolize ...

and lives predatorily at certain times of the year. During the summer months, it inhabits mountain rivers and lakes at all depths. In autumn and winter, it forms large

shoals In oceanography, geomorphology, and geoscience, a shoal is a natural submerged ridge, bank, or bar that consists of, or is covered by, sand or other unconsolidated material, and rises from the bed of a body of water close to the surface or ...

in front of the estuaries in lakes before spawning. It can only reproduce in cold, oxygen-rich water below temperatures of 20°C.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q148847 Thymallus Freshwater fish of Asia