Leucaspius delineatus (Heckel, 1843)
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Leucaspius delineatus, known as the sunbleak, belica or moderlieschen is a species of freshwater fish in the Cyprinidae family. It is currently the only species included in genus Leucaspius, whereas formerly others were included, which now have been moved to Ladigesocypris or Pseudophoxinus or merged with L. delineatus.
Description[edit]
The belica is a slender fish with a tapered body which is usually from 4 to 6 cm (1.6 to 2.4 in) long and seldom grows larger than 10 cm (3.9 in). It has an upward-turned mouth and a short lateral line which extends about seven to ten scales from the gill cover. The anal fin is short and consists of eleven to fourteen rays. This is a silvery fish with a particularly intense band of colour running along the flank.[1]
Distribution[edit]
The belica is found all over temperate continental Europe and barely extends to Central Asia in the Caucasus region. The southern limits of its range are essentially marked by the Pyrenees and the Alpide belt.
The common name Moderlieschen is of German origin. Although it looks like a proper word that can be approximately translated as "mouldy Lizzy", it is actually a bowdlerized version of an older name which survives in parts of Germany as Mutterloseken. Literally meaning "the little motherless one", this ultimately refers to the fact that the sticky eggs of the moderlieschen can withstand exposure to air for a remarkably long time. Deposited on water plants, they sometimes stick to the feet of ducks and similar birds and are carried by these to ephemeral ponds. Large numbers of young moderlieschens are thus sometimes encountered when such ponds dry up, and with no adult fish being present this gave rise to the belief that they were "motherless".
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ "Belica: Leucaspius delineatus". NatureGate. Retrieved 14 December 2013.
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Leucaspius delineatus. |
- Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2011). "Leucaspius delineatus" in FishBase. August 2011 version.
- World Conservation Monitoring Centre 1996. Leucaspius delineatus. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 10 July 2007.
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| Rights holder/Author | Wikipedia |
| Source | http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Leucaspius_delineatus&oldid=632741134 |
Diagnosed from other cyprinids in central and eastern Europe by having incomplete lateral line with about 8-12 pored scales, keel covered by scales between pelvic origin and anus, mouth superior, and 11-13½ branched anal rays (Ref. 59043). A small fish with large silvery scales and an inconspicuous intense silvery band along each side. Lateral line incomplete, sometimes absent, with perforated scales. Anal fin longer than dorsal fin. Mouth turns upwards. The lower edge of the body between the pelvic fins and the vent forms a sharp keel. The scales are very loosely attached and fall away if the fish is handled. Also Ref. 40476.
| License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ |
| Rights holder/Author | Pascualita Sa-a, FishBase |
| Source | http://www.fishbase.org/summary/SpeciesSummary.php?id=4782 |
Habitat and Ecology
Lowland riverine habitats especially oxbows and other water bodies only connected to rivers during floods. Often found in ponds, steppe lakes and small water bodies not connected to rivers. May occur in any habitat with few or no predators.
Biology: Gregarious. Spawns for the first time at one year; spawns only for a single season. Spawns in May-September, when temperature reaches 16°C. Females may spawn about once every three weeks. Males are territorial; they clean the spawning site and guard the eggs, which are attached in strings around roots, reeds, aquatic vegetation or any material drifting on the water surface. Feeds mostly on zooplankton and terrestrial insects. Stunted populations may form in predator-free habitats. Often quickly reaches newly-created water bodies by still unknown mechanisms. Scales were used to produce Essence d'Orient, which was used for coating artificial pearls.
Systems
- Freshwater
| License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ |
| Rights holder/Author | © International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources |
| Source | http://www.iucnredlist.org/apps/redlist/details/11873 |
pelagic; potamodromous (Ref. 51243); freshwater; brackish; pH range: 6.0 - 10.0; dH range: 15; depth range 0 - 1 m (Ref. 27368)
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| Rights holder/Author | Susan M. Luna, FishBase |
| Source | http://www.fishbase.org/summary/SpeciesSummary.php?id=4782 |
Depth: 0 - 1m.
Recorded at 1 meters.
Habitat: pelagic.
Potamodromous. Migrating within streams, migratory in rivers, e.g. Saliminus, Moxostoma, Labeo. Migrations should be cyclical and predictable and cover more than 100 km.
| License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ |
| Rights holder/Author | Susan M. Luna, FishBase |
| Source | http://www.fishbase.org/summary/SpeciesSummary.php?id=4782 |
Feeds on plants, phytoplankton, zooplankton, and insects (Ref. 27368).
| License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ |
| Rights holder/Author | Pascualita Sa-a, FishBase |
| Source | No source database. |
Territorial males clean the spawning sites and guard the eggs which are attached in strings around roots, reeds, aquatic vegetation or any material drifting on the water surface (Ref. 59043). When males tend the clutch, which is usually located on the stem of a water plant, they provide the clutch with fresh water by nudging the water plant. In addition, they spread an anti-bacterial fluid over the eggs (Ref. 1672). If possible, some fish will enter streams for spawning.
Belica are small fish with large eyes. With their relatively large mouth, they can gobble up eggs and larvae from fish and amphibians, although they eat mostly zooplankton. This fish species normally grows to a maximum of 7 centimeters and is olive green on top and silver underneath. The fish used to be considered a juvenile specimen of some other species. That is why not much is known about where the fish originated.
| License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ |
| Rights holder/Author | Ecomare |
| Source | http://www.ecomare.nl/index.php?id=3882&L=2 |
The following is a representative barcode sequence, the centroid of all available sequences for this species.
There are 5 barcode sequences available from BOLD and GenBank.
Below is a sequence of the barcode region Cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 (COI or COX1) from a member of the species.
See the BOLD taxonomy browser for more complete information about this specimen and other sequences.
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