''Tropidophoxinellus hellenicus'', the Hellenic roachminnow, 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 ...

, which includes the daces, Eurasian minnows and related species. This fish 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 Greece.

Taxonomy

''Tropidophoxinellus hellenicus'' was first formally described as ''Rutilus alburnoides hellenicus'' in 1971 by the Greek

ichthyologist Ichthyology is the branch of zoology devoted to the study of fish, including bony fish (Osteichthyes), cartilaginous fish (Chondrichthyes), and jawless fish (Agnatha). According to FishBase, 35,800 species of fish had been described as of March 2 ...

Alexander I. Stephanidis with its type locality given as the Pinios River at

Vartholomio Vartholomio () is a town and a former municipality in Elis, West Greece, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Pineios, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of 60.696 km2. T ...

Peloponnesus The Peloponnese ( ), Peloponnesus ( ; , ) or Morea (; ) is a peninsula and geographic regions of Greece, geographic region in Southern Greece, and the southernmost region of the Balkans. It is connected to the central part of the country by the ...

, Greece. This species is now classified in the genus ''

Tropidophoxinellus ''Tropidophoxinellus'' is a genus of ray-finned fish belonging to the family Leuciscidae, which includes the daces, Eurasian minnows and related species. There are currently four described species, these fishes are found in Greece and North Afri ...

'' which was proposed as a genus by Stephanidis in 1974 and is classified within 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 ...

in the Family

Etymology

''Tropidophoxinellus hellenicus'' is classified in the genus ''Tropidophoxinellus'', a name which prefixes the minnow genus name ''

Phoxinus ''Phoxinus'' is a genus of freshwater fish in the family Leuciscidae of order Cypriniformes, and the only members of the subfamily Phoxininae, or Eurasian minnows. The other species in this genus are also commonly known as minnows. The name "minn ...

'' with ''trophidos'', the

genitive In grammar, the genitive case ( abbreviated ) is the grammatical case that marks a word, usually a noun, as modifying another word, also usually a noun—thus indicating an attributive relationship of one noun to the other noun. A genitive can ...

of ''tropis'', which means "keel" and is an allusion to the scaleless keel which runs from the

pelvic fin Pelvic fins or ventral fins are paired fins located on the ventral (belly) surface of fish, and are the lower of the only two sets of paired fins (the other being the laterally positioned pectoral fins). The pelvic fins are homologous to the hi ...

s to the anus. 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 ...

, ''hellenicus'', means "of Greece", where this species is endemic.

Description

''Tropidophoxinellus hellenicus'' can be told apart from '' T. spartiaticus'' by its mouth opening upwards, the lower jaw projects beyond the upper jaw and by having between 37 and 40 scales along the

lateral line The lateral line, also called the lateral line organ (LLO), is a system of sensory organs found in fish, used to detect movement, vibration, and pressure gradients in the surrounding water. The sensory ability is achieved via modified epithelia ...

. This species has a maximum

standard length Fish measurement is the measuring of individual fish and various parts of fish anatomy, their anatomies, for data used in many areas of ichthyology, including Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy and fishery biology. Overall length Standard length (SL) is ...

of .

Distribution and habitat

''Tropidophoxinellus hellenicus'' is endemic to the southwestern Greece. Here it occurs from the lower

Achelous In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, Achelous (also Acheloos or Acheloios) (; Ancient Greek: Ἀχελώϊος, and later , ''Akhelôios'') was the god associated with the Achelous River, the largest river in Greece. Accordi ...

, including lakes Trichonida,

Lysimachia ''Lysimachia'' ( ) is a genus consisting of 182 accepted species of flowering plants traditionally classified in the family Primulaceae. Based on a molecular phylogenetic study it was transferred to the family Myrsinaceae, before this family w ...

and Amvrakia, south to the Pineios River in the northwestern Peloponnese. This is s schooling species of lowland rivers, lakes and spring-fed streams where there is slow-moving or still water with aquatic vegetation.

Conservation

''Tropidophoxinellus hellenicus'' is classified as

Near-threatened A near-threatened species is a species which has been categorized as "Near Threatened" (NT) by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as that may be vulnerable to endangerment in the near future, but it does not currently qu ...

by the

International Union for Conservation of Nature 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 stat ...

. The threats to this species include pollution, water abstraction, anthropogenic habitat modification, drought and non-native

invasive species An invasive species is an introduced species that harms its new environment. Invasive species adversely affect habitats and bioregions, causing ecological, environmental, and/or economic damage. The term can also be used for native spec ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2208469 hellenicus Fish described in 1971 Cyprinid fish of Europe Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Taxa named by Alexander I. Stephanidis Endemic fauna of Greece