''Scardinius racovitzai'', Racovitza's rudd, is a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

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 ...

, which includes the daces, Eurasian minnows and related fishes. This species is

extinct in the wild A species that is extinct in the wild (EW) is one that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as only consisting of living members kept in captivity or as a naturalized population outside its historic range ...

and was formerly

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 Romania.

Taxonomy

''Scardinius racovitzai'' was first formally described in 1958 by the Romanian biologist Geza Julius Müller with its type locality given as Thermal pond Petzea, near

Oradea Oradea (, , ; ; ) is a city in Romania, located in the Crișana region. It serves as the administrative county seat, seat of Bihor County and an economic, social, and cultural hub in northwestern Romania. The city lies between rolling hills on ...

, tributary of

Crișul Repede The Crișul Repede (Romanian language, Romanian Crișul Repede ("the rapid Criș"); Hungarian language, Hungarian Sebes-Körös) is a river in Bihor County, Crișana, Romania and in southeastern Hungary (Körösvidek). Together with the rivers Cri ...

in western Romania. This species belongs to the genus ''

Scardinius ''Scardinius'' is a genus of freshwater ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Leuciscidae, which includes the daces, Eurasian minnows and related species. The fishes in this genus are commonly called rudds. Locally, the name "rudd" without ...

'', commonly referred to as rudds, which belongs to 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 Leuciscidae.

Etymology

''Scardinius racovitzai'' belongs to the genus ''Scardinius'' and this name is thought to be a latinisation of ''scardafa'', a

vernacular name Vernacular is the ordinary, informal, spoken form of language, particularly when perceived as having lower social status or less prestige than standard language, which is more codified, institutionally promoted, literary, or formal. More n ...

in Italy, Rome in particular, for the Tiber rudd (''

Scardinius scardafa ''Scardinius scardafa'' , the Tiber rudd, is a species of freshwater ray-finned fish belonging to the family Leuciscidae, which includes the daces, Eurasian minnows and related fishes. This species was regarded as endemic to the drainages of west ...

''). 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 ...

is an

eponym An eponym is a noun after which or for which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. Adjectives derived from the word ''eponym'' include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Eponyms are commonly used for time periods, places, innovati ...

and honours the Romanian cave biologist and zoologist Emil G. Racovitza, to mark the tenth anniversary of his death.

Distribution

''Scardinius racovitzai'' was endemic to one small lake fed by a geothermal spring near Oradea in

Bihor County Bihor County (, ) is a county (județ) in western Romania. With a total area of , Bihor is Romania's 6th largest county geographically and the main county in the historical region of Crișana. Its capital city is Oradea (Nagyvárad). Toponymy ...

in northwestern Romania. This lake is known locally as Pețea or Ochiul Mare and is located in the upper reaches of the Peța River, a minor left-bank tributary of the Crișul Repede River in the upper

Tisza River The Tisza, Tysa or Tisa (see below) is one of the major rivers of Central and Eastern Europe. It was once called "the most Hungarian river" because it used to flow entirely within the Kingdom of Hungary. Today, it crosses several national bo ...

system. Captive populations of this species are held in instututions in Hungary, Czechia and Austria.

Extinction

''Scardinius racovitzai'' inhabited one densely vegetated lake fed by a hot spring, this lake dried up completely in 2014 and this species became extinct in the wild at that point. The lake had been drying up for a long time as due to water abstraction, pollution was also a factor in the degradation of the habitat.

Sources

Scardinius Fish described in 1958 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Leuciscinae-stub