Leuciscidae, Bonaparte, 1835

Freyhof, JÖrg, Yoğurtçuoğlu, Baran, Jouladeh-Roudbar, Arash & Kaya, Cüneyt, 2025, Handbook of Freshwater Fishes of West Asia, De Gruyter : 269-272

Family Leuciscidae

Minnows

A total of 137 species of Leuciscids have been identified in West Asia. These fishes are characterised by a short dorsal fin whose last unbranched ray is never serrated, the absence of barbels, pharyngeal teeth usually in one or two rows, and several osteological characters. They are found in Europe, North Africa, western and northern Asia, and North America but, are absent from tropical and southern Africa and tropical Asia. Leuciscidae is divided into two main groups, the Leuciscines and the Phoxinines. Both are present in West Asia. The Phoxinines are known only from the genus Phoxinus in West Asia. They are numerous and highly diverse in East Asia and especially in North America, where they dominate many fish faunas in terms of species and biomass. In contrast, leuciscines are most speciose in the Western Palaearctic, where most genera are endemic and only a few are distributed east of Central and East Asia. Only one genus of leuciscines is found in North America ( Notemigonus ).

The generic systematics of Leuciscidae have changed considerably in recent decades, as morphological characters poorly diagnose most genera. In many instances, the traditionally recognised genera have no congruence by morphological and molecular data. This is partly due to the earlier practise of classifying morphologically specialised species in their own, often monotypic genera (predatory species such as Aspius ). Furthermore, some small-sized species exhibit characters that are partly interpreted as reductive. These have often been classified in the genera Pseudophoxinus and Petroleuciscus but have been transferred to other genera mostly based on molecular characters. Intergeneric hybridisation and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) introgression have led to the misclassification of some species based on mitochondrial molecular data alone. In such instances, we have adopted the most recent generic-level reorganisations, which have been informed by both morphological and molecular data. Further reading. Bogutskaya 1986, 1988a, b (osteology); Zardoya & Doadrio 1999, Rüber et al. 2007 (phylogeny).

Key to genera of Leuciscidae in West Asia

1a - Lateral line undulated, complete; belly with a sharp 3a - Unbranched part of pectoral rays 1–3 thicker and keel between throat and anal origin. stiffer in male than in female; pectoral rays 2–3 slightly ……………… Pelecus slanted upward, with a conspicuous downward angle at

1b - Lateral line running straight, curved, complete, distal end of thickened part.

incomplete, or absent; belly without a sharp keel ……………… Egirdira

between throat and pelvic origin. 3b - Pectoral of male not modified, identical to that of ……………… 2 female in shape, often longer in male than in female.

………………4

2a - Lower lip with a cornified sheath; mouth subtermi-

nal or inferior, straight or arched; mouth inferior with 4a - Mouth large, cleft reaching beyond front margin of strongly projecting rostral cap (9–12½ branched anal eye, superior; symphysis of lower jaw with a conspicurays). ous knob fitting in a notch in upper jaw. ( Fig. 39).

……………… Chondrostoma ……………… Leuciscus

2b - Lower lip without a cornified sheath; mouth supe- 4b - Mouth cleft not reaching vertical of eye, superior, terrior, terminal or inferior, arched; if inferior, then 19–44½ minal, or subterminal; symphysis of lower jaw without branched anal rays. conspicuous knob; upper jaw without median notch.

………………3 ………………5

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5a - A midventral keel in front of anus, exposed (scale- 12a - 7–9½ branched anal rays. less) at least immediately in front of anus, usually on at ………………13 least half of distance between pelvic base and anus (keel 12b - 10–23½ branched anal rays. weakly developed and not exposed in Acanthobrama ………………15 persidis , some Alburnus doriae , and some A. kurui ). ………………6 13a - 65–72 total lateral-line scales, body cylindrical, only

5b - No scaleless midventral keel in front of anus. slightly compressed. ………………17 ……………… Leucalburnus

13b - 35–52 total lateral-line scales; body clearly com-

6a - 23–48½ branched anal rays. pressed. ………………7 ………………14

6b - 7–23½ branched anal rays. ………………8 14a - No brown stripe along flank. 35–43 total scales along lateral line; pharyngeal teeth in two rows.

7a - 23–30½ branched anal rays. ……………… Acanthobrama ( A. persidis ) ……………… Abramis 14b - A brown stripe along flank. 45–52 total scales along

7b - 33–48½ branched anal rays. lateral line; pharyngeal teeth in one row. ……………… Ballerus ……………… Turcichondrostoma

8a - Lateral line incomplete, with 8–12 pored scales. 15a - 10–19½ branched anal rays; last unbranched dorsal ……………… Leucaspius ray strongly ossified, often thickened.

8b - Lateral line complete. ……………… Acanthobrama ………………9 15b - 19–23½ branched anal rays; last unbranched dorsal ray as much ossified as other rays, not thickened.

9a - Lateral line strongly curved downward; mouth ………………16 superior or terminal; size up 400 mm SL, most species less than 130 mm SL. 16a - 43–46+2–3 lateral-line scales; a scaleless dorsal ………………10 groove behind nape (in adults).

9b - Lateral line more or less along middle of flank; ……………… Blicca mouth subterminal to subinferior; size up to 700 mm SL. 16b - 46–58+2–3 lateral-line scales; no scaleless dorsal ………………12 groove in front of dorsal. ……………… Vimba

10a - Last unbranched dorsal ray strongly ossified, often thickened. 17a - Flank with a row of dark, squarish to vertically ……………… Mirogrex elongated blotches, sometimes fused into an irregular

10b - Last unbranched dorsal ray as much ossified as midlateral stripe, followed by a separate dark-grey spot other rays, not thickened. at caudal base. ………………11 ……………… Phoxinus

17b - Body uniform silvery or yellowish brown, some-

11a - A small black spot on each side of each lateral line times with a broad, faint, midlateral stripe or with irregpore; usually a dark-grey midlateral stripe and several ular dotted or spotted pattern, no dark-grey or brown, longitudinal rows of spots on flank; 6–10 gill rakers, squarish to vertically elongated blotches, and no conslightly longer than distance between two rakers. spicuous dark-grey or brown spot at caudal base. ……………… Alburnoides ………………18

11b - Body silvery, without dark-grey marks on flank, often with a faint midlateral stripe; 13–38 gill rakers, 18a - Infraorbital canal not connected to preopercudensely set, several times longer than distance between lo-mandibular sensory canal; lateral line incomplete in two rakers. many species. (Fig. 40). ……………… Alburnus ……………… Pseudophoxinus

18b - Infraorbital canal connected to preoperculo-man- 20a - Dorsal origin behind base of last pelvic ray; mouth dibular sensory canal; lateral line complete (except in superior or terminal. Ladigesocypris ). ………………21 ………………19 20b - Dorsal origin above pelvic base; mouth terminal

to inferior.

………………22

21a - Mouth superior; posterior margin of anal concave;

keel between pelvic base and anus usually present.

……………… Scardinius

21b - Mouth terminal; posterior margin of anal convex or

almost straight; no keel between pelvic base and anus.

……………… Petroleuciscus

22a - Posterior margin of anal concave; 4–5 simple dorsal

rays (posterior 3 usually distinct, anterior 1–2 very short

and often hidden in skin); pharyngeal teeth in one row. Figure 40: Pseudophoxinus maeandricus ; red square shows ……………… Rutilus disconnected infraorbital canal (left) and preoperculo-mandibular 22b - Posterior margin of anal convex or almost straight; sensory canal (right). 3 simple dorsal rays (posterior 2 usually distinct, ante-

rior one very short and often hidden in skin); pharyn-

geal teeth in two rows.

19a - Lateral line incomplete.

……………… Squalius ……………… Ladigesocypris

19b - Lateral line complete. ………………20

Leuciscid fishes are important elements in most waterbodies of West Asia,as in Lake Hazar, Türkiye.

Abramis brama ; Odra, Germany; ~ 400 mm SL.