Alburnus

Abstract: The generic position of Leuciscus kurui Bogutskaya, 1995 is reviewed through a comparison of morphological and molecular characters (COI). The molecular data place L. kurui in Alburnus , close to Alburnus timarensis from the Lake Van basin. Alburnus kurui (Bogutskaya) is distinguished from this species by lacking a ventral keel and possessing both a very low number of gill rakers and midlateral scales. Alburnus selcuklui , from the upper Tigris drainage, cannot be distinguished from the widespread A. sellal and is therefore treated as a synonym of this species. Alburnus kurui Mangit & Yerli, 2018 is a junior secondary homonym of A. kurui (Bogutskaya, 1995) and A. carianorum is proposed as its replacement name. Several specimens of Alburnus caeruleus and Alburnus heckeli shared the same haplotypes as some A. sellal and therefore these species cannot always be distinguished by mitochondrial molecular characters. Alburnus caeruleus and A. heckeli are treated as valid species. Other individuals of A. caeruleus have haplotypes very different from A. sellal , and A. heckeli is well distinguished from A. sellal by having more gill rakers. The Lake Van basin as a separate freshwater ecoregion and the treatment of several species of Alburnus in synonymy of A. mento are discussed.

Abstract: The cyprinid fish Alburnus alburnus possesses one of the largest supernumerary chromosomes in all vertebrates In the present study, amplified fragment length polymorphism analyses (AFLP) and fluorescence in-situ hybridization (FISH) were performed in order to characterize these extraordinary chromosomes in detail Sequence analysis of the B chromosome-specific DNA revealed a strong homology to a Drosophila Gypsy/Ty3 retrotransposon and also to a medaka (Oryzias latipes) one The sequence is highly abundant on the B chromosome but undetectable in the normal A chromosome complement It is also absent from the B chromosome of the closely related species, Rutilus rutilus, suggesting a specific spreading of the mobile element during evolution of the giant supernumerary chromosome within A alburnus Meitotic chromosomes were in-situ hybridized with the B chromosome-specific probe, documenting that the additional chromosome behaves as an autopaired ring chromosome in diakineses Our results suggest that the supernumerary chromosome of A alburnus is not derived from the normal chromosome complement but has evolved independently

Abstract: This paper results from a series of observations made on fish populations in the River Thames at Reading between October 1958 and October 1959. The work forms part of a long-term ecological investigation being carried out in the Caversham-Sonning reach of the river. The four species being discussed in this paper are roach-Rutilus rutilus (L.), bleak-Alburnus alburnus (L.), dace-Leuciscus leuciscus (L.) and perch-Perca fluviatilis L. These four species comprised 91 %Y of the total catch and estimates of their population densities have been reported (Williams 1965). The stock densities recorded were extremely high and the present study on growth and mortality is a necessary step in the evaluation of both the interrelationships within the community and those between the community and its environment. Very few population studies have been made of coarse fish in Britain, especially from rivers. For some species, however, there are published data on growth in various habitats which may serve to indicate whether or not the Thames fish are stunted. Only for perch is there comparable work on both growth and mortality in another habitat (Le Cren 1958).

Abstract: Alburnus magnificus, new species, is described from the northern Orontes River drainage in the eastern Mediterranean Sea basin. It is most similar and closely-related to A. qalilus from coastal rivers in Syria south of the Orontes. Alburnus magnificus is distinguished from A. qalilus by having the anal-fin origin below or behind the vertical through the last dorsal-fin ray, 4-5 scale rows between the lateral line and the anal-fin origin, and a flank pattern of bold black, grey or brown scales on a silvery or brown background. The two species are also distinguished by a minimum K2P distance of 1.8% in their COI sequence data.