''Zingel zingel'', the zingel, 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 ...

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 ...

Percidae The Percidae are a family of ray-finned fish, part of the order Perciformes, which are found in fresh and brackish waters of the Northern Hemisphere. The majority are Nearctic, but there are also Palearctic species. The family contains nearly 250 ...

. It is found in fast-flowing streams in southeastern Europe. It is the type species of the genus ''Zingel''.

Description

''Zingel zingel'' has two separate

dorsal fin A dorsal fin is a fin on the back of most marine and freshwater vertebrates. Dorsal fins have evolved independently several times through convergent evolution adapting to marine environments, so the fins are not all homologous. They are found ...

s with 13–15 spines in the first and 18–20 soft rays in the second. No scales occur on the cheeks. They grow to in length with a maximum length of .

Distribution

''Zingel zingel'' 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 the drainage basins of the

Danube The Danube ( ; see also #Names and etymology, other names) is the List of rivers of Europe#Longest rivers, second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest sou ...

and

Dniestr The Dniester ( ) is a transboundary river in Eastern Europe. It runs first through Ukraine and then through Moldova (from which it more or less separates the breakaway territory of Transnistria), finally discharging into the Black Sea on Ukr ...

in south-eastern Europe. They have been recorded from Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Germany, Hungary, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Ukraine.

Habitat and biology

''Zingel zingel'' adults are found in fast-flowing waters in the main course of large rivers. They

spawn Spawn or spawning may refer to: * Spawning, the eggs and sperm of aquatic animals Arts, entertainment and media * Spawn (character), a fictional character in the comic series of the same name and in the associated franchise ** ''Spawn: Armageddon' ...

over sandy bottoms during March and April. Each female mates with several males in dense spawning aggregations. Each female lays about 5,000 adhesive eggs that attach to gravel. Their prey is made up of aquatic insects,

crustacean Crustaceans (from Latin meaning: "those with shells" or "crusted ones") are invertebrate animals that constitute one group of arthropods that are traditionally a part of the subphylum Crustacea (), a large, diverse group of mainly aquatic arthrop ...

s, fish eggs, and smaller fish. They normally occur at lower altitudes than the streber (''Z. streber'').

Taxonomy

''Zingel zingel'' was first formally described as ''Perca zingel'' in 1766 by Linnaeus with the type locality given as the River Danube in Germany. When

Hippolyte Cloquet Hippolyte Cloquet (10 March 1787 – 3 March 1840) was a French physician and anatomist who was a native of Paris. He was the brother of surgeon Jules Germain Cloquet (1790–1883), and father to Ernest Cloquet (1818–1855), who was a personal ph ...

(1787–1840) created the genus ''

Zingel ''Zingel'' is a genus of fish in the family Percidae. They are long and slender, reaching in length. They are found in rivers and streams in Europe. They feed mainly on aquatic invertebrates such as crustaceans and insect larvae, and also eat s ...

'' he made this species 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 ...

by absolute

tautonymy A tautonym is a scientific name of a species in which both parts of the name have the same spelling, such as ''Rattus rattus''. The first part of the name is the name of the genus and the second part is referred to as the ''specific epithet'' in ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q204446

zingel ''Zingel'' is a genus of fish in the family Percidae. They are long and slender, reaching in length. They are found in rivers and streams in Europe. They feed mainly on aquatic invertebrates such as crustaceans and insect larvae, and also eat s ...

Freshwater fish of Europe Fish of Europe Fish described in 1766 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Habitats Directive species