''Salmo dentex'' is a variety of

trout Trout are species of freshwater fish belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', '' Salmo'' and '' Salvelinus'', all of the subfamily Salmoninae of the family Salmonidae. The word ''trout'' is also used as part of the name of some non-sa ...

, a freshwater fish in the family

Salmonidae Salmonidae is a family of ray-finned fish that constitutes the only currently extant family in the order Salmoniformes . It includes salmon (both Atlantic and Pacific species), trout (both ocean-going and landlocked), chars, freshwater whitefish ...

, found in the western

Balkans The Balkans ( ), also known as 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 throughout the who ...

. Until recently the identity, biological distinctness and species status of the dentex trout were not properly clarified, but genetic data now suggest it is not a

monophyletic In cladistics for a group of organisms, monophyly is the condition of being a clade—that is, a group of taxa composed only of a common ancestor (or more precisely an ancestral population) and all of its lineal descendants. Monophyletic ...

unit that could be distinguished from other salmonids as a separate species. ''Salmo dentex'' has been reported to inhabit the

Neretva The Neretva ( sr-cyrl, Неретва, ), also known as Narenta, is one of the largest rivers of the eastern part of the Adriatic basin. Four HE power-plants with large dams (higher than 150,5 metres) provide flood protection, power and water ...

river and Hutovo Blato wetlands in

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and ...

, and is also found in

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the ...

and

Montenegro ) , image_map = Europe-Montenegro.svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Podgorica , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , official_languages = ...

Lake Skadar Lake Skadar ( sh-Cyrl-Latn, Скадарско језеро, Skadarsko jezero, ; sq, Liqeni i Shkodrës, ) also called Lake Scutari, Lake Shkodër and Lake Shkodra lies on the border of Albania and Montenegro, and is the largest lake in Southern ...

and its tributaries. It is reported that ''S. dentex'' is extinct from Croatian rivers,

Cetina Cetina () is a river in southern Croatia. It has a length of and its basin covers an area of . From its source, Cetina descends from an elevation of above sea level to the Adriatic Sea. It is the most water-rich river in Dalmatia.Naklada Naprijed ...

and Krka, but has recently bee reported by anglers from the

river in Croatia. Some reports indicate its presence in the rivers of Livanjsko field in

and in river

Alfeios The Alfeiós or Alpheios ( el, Αλφειός, grc, Ἀλφειός, Latin Alpheus) is the main stream of the Alpheios Valley drainage system, a dendritic type, originating on the north slopes of Mount Taygetus, located in the center of the Pelop ...

in Greece. The status of ''S. dentex'', locally known as the zubatak, long remained unclear due to lack of samples for detailed analyses, hybridisation with other

lineages and diverse and multiple designations of the same trout in different areas. One of the inhabited areas, the Hutovo Blato wetlands, is situated North West of the Neretva river estuary in southern part of Bosnia and Herzegovina. This is an atypical type of wetland, characterized by several shallow lakes and channels filled with clear and cold water (around 13 °C whole year) creating conditions suitable also for salmonids. Recently the genetic structure of ''S. dentex'' and its relations to other co-existing salmonids in the Neretva and Skadar river systems have been studied using mitochondrial DNA,

microsatellite A microsatellite is a tract of repetitive DNA in which certain DNA motifs (ranging in length from one to six or more base pairs) are repeated, typically 5–50 times. Microsatellites occur at thousands of locations within an organism's genome. ...

and 21 other nuclear DNA

loci Locus (plural loci) is Latin for "place". It may refer to: Entertainment * Locus (comics), a Marvel Comics mutant villainess, a member of the Mutant Liberation Front * ''Locus'' (magazine), science fiction and fantasy magazine ** '' Locus Award ...

. Genetic analyses showed that the Neretva ''S. dentex'' ("zubatak") and the co-existing

marble trout ''Salmo marmoratus'', the marble trout, is a species of freshwater fish in the family Salmonidae. It is characterized by a distinctive marbled color pattern and high growth capacity. The marble trout is found in only a handful of drainages and r ...

(''S. marmoratus'') formed a genetically unified cluster, while Skadar ''S. dentex'' ("strun") was "genetically distinct from ''S. marmoratus'' in the same river system and indistinct from local

brown trout The brown trout (''Salmo trutta'') is a European species of salmonid fish that has been widely introduced into suitable environments globally. It includes purely freshwater populations, referred to as the riverine ecotype, ''Salmo trutta'' morp ...

(''S. trutta'')". Thus the Neretva and Skadar ''S. dentex'' are not closely related but rather "''S. dentex'' sa particular life history form of ''S. marmoratus'' in the Neretva basin and of ''S. trutta'' in the Skadar basin". "These results clearly demonstrate that ''S. dentex'' does not represent a monophyletic lineage and should not be considered a distinct species."

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q140731 dentex Fish described in 1852 Fauna of Albania Fish of Bosnia and Herzegovina Fauna of Croatia Fauna of Greece Freshwater fish of Europe Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Endemic fish of the Neretva basin Endemic fauna of Bosnia and Herzegovina Species endangered by river-damming