E. D. Vasil’eva

Cobitis faridpaki sp. nova—a New spined loach species (Cobitidae) from the southern Caspian Sea basin (Iran)

Spined loaches from the Siahrud River of the southern coast of the Caspian Sea in the province of Mazandaran, north of Iran, are described as a new species Cobitis faridpaki. This species belongs to Cobitis species group with a single lamina Canestrini at the base of the second pectoral-fin ray in males and subdorsal scales with reduced eccentric focal zone. These characters differentiate C. faridpaki from both southern Iranian species C. linea and C. melanoleuca distributed in the northern Caspian Sea basin. The stout body, small and numerous (25–30) lateral spots and the presence of 14–16 branched caudal-fin rays separate C. faridpaki from Caucasian species C. satunini.

How many times has polyploidization occurred during acipenserid evolution? New data on the karyotypes of sturgeons (Acipenseridae, Actinopterygii) from the Russian Far East

The karyology of species of sturgeon from the Russian Far East demonstrates that the karyotype of the Sakhalin sturgeon (Acipenser mikadoi) includes 262 ± 4 chromosomes with 80 biarmed chromosomes and the number of chromosome arms (NF) 342 ± 4, the karyotype of the Amur sturgeon (A. schrenckii) includes 266 ± 4 chromosomes with 92 biarmed chromosomes and NF 358 ± 4, and the karyotype of the kaluga (A. dauricus) consists of 268 ± 4 chromosomes with 100 biarmed chromosomes and NF 368 ± 4. These results prove that all western Pacific sturgeon species are from a tetraploid origin, based on a recent ploidy scale. This suggests that at least three polyploidization events have occurred during the evolution of Acipenseridae. However, if polyploid species originated by hybridization between diploid species, there may have been more polyploidization events in this group of fishes.

The Revision of the Validity of Genus Huso (Acipenseridae) Based on Recent Morphological and Genetic Data with Particular Reference to the Kaluga H. dauricus

The comparative morphological study in different Acipenseriform species demonstrates that there are only two morphological features combining the kaluga and the great sturgeon and separating them from other sturgeons, namely the shape of a mouth and the manner attaching of gill membranes to isthmus in adult specimens; whereas many morphological characters are different in these species. The relations of morphological similarity/distinction among different sturgeon species and polyphyletic origin of genus Huso revealed by both molecular and cytogenetic studies presume the restoration of initial taxonomic states for the great sturgeon and kaluga as members of the same genus Acipenser, namely A. huso and A. dauricus.

Comparative karyology of species of the genera Misgurnus and Cobitis (Cobitidae) from the Amur River Basin in connection with their taxonomic relations and the evolution of karyotypes

Data are first provided on karyotypes of four species of Cobitidae from the Amur Basin: Misgurnus nikolskyi (2n = 50 = 10m + 4 sm + 36sta, NF = 64), Cobitis lutheri, (2n = 50 = 12m + 8sm + 30sta, NF = 70), C. choii (2n = 50 = 8m + 10sm + 8st + 24a, NF = 68), and C. melanoleuca (2n = 50 = 6m + 16sm + 28sta, NF = 72), and number of chromosomes in M. mohoity (2n = 50) and karyotypes of C. melanoleuca from the basin of the Don, Malyi and Bol’shoi Uzen rivers, and Selenga. These data are discussed in connection with problems of taxonomy of the studied genera, as well as the evolutionary relations of their karyotypes. On the basis of karyological differences between the populations of C. melanoleuca from different parts of the range, a new subspecies C. melanoleuca gladkovi subsp. nov. that inhabits waters of Europe is described.

Reconstruction of phylogenetic relations of Ponto-Caspian gobies (Gobiidae, Perciformes) based on mitochondrial genome variation and some problems of their taxonomy

Phylogenetic relations of Ponto-Caspian gobies in the context of different taxonomic hypotheses have been studied based on the analysis of variations in cytochrome b gene. Evidence for the paraphyly of the genus Neogobius sensu lato, represented by two independent phyletic lineages that should be treated as separate genera Neogobius s. stricto (includes a species group of N. melanostomus-N. fluviatilis-N. caspius) and Ponticola, has been provided. It has been demonstrated that the Racer goby N. gymnotrachelus refers to the latter genus. It is proved that the Grass goby Gobius ophiocephalus belongs to the genus Gobius s. stricto.

Gobies of the genus Rhinogobius (Gobiidae) from Primor’e and water bodies of Central Asia and Kazakhstan: I. Morphological characteristic and taxonomic status

The taxonomic status of the investigated populations is estimated on the basis of morphological analysis of gobies of the genus Rhinogobius from waters of Primor’e, of gobies introduced with herbivorous fish to water bodies of Central Asia and Kazakhstan, and of morphological traits of the known nominal species of this genus. The gobies from water bodies of Primor’e are attributed to the species R. sowerbyi Ginsburg, 1917 which was supposed to be a junior synonym of R. brunneus. The acclimatized gobies are attributed to R. cheni (Nichols, 1931) described from the Yangtze and not mentioned in literature for a long time. Detailed morphological characteristics of the studied populations, diagnoses, and present-day notions on distribution of both restored species are presented.

The First Finding of the Striped Tripletooth Goby Tridentiger trigonocephalus (Perciformes, Gobiidae) in the Black Sea (the Estuary of the Chernaya River, Sevastopol Bay)

In the estuary zone of the Chernaya River, approxi-mately within 400 m from its inflow in the SevastopolBay, on September 4, 2006, a goby was captured andbrought alive to the Institute of Biology of SouthernSeas, identified later as the Striped tripletooth goby Tri-dentiger trigonocephalus. Fishing was made at a per-manent station with a hauled dipnet touching the bot-tom. The aperture of the dipnet is semicircular, 1.0 ×0.5 m in size, mesh size 6.5 mm. The depth of the haulwas 4–5 m, temperature at water surface 20.5°C, andsalinity at 14.96‰. The ground was silt sandy andpartly covered with aquatic vegetation.The species was identified using the key for speciesof the genus Tridentiger composed by Pinchuk (1992)on the basis of publications of Japanese authors (Aki-hito et al., 1984; Akihito and Sakamoto, 1989), compar-ative materials from the collection of the ZoologicalMuseum of Moscow State University (ZMMU), andmorphological data, photographs and drawings of spe-cies of this genus are from various publications (Wu,1931; Wang and Wang, 1935; Berg, 1949; Takagi,1963; Lindberg and Krasyukova, 1975; Kawanabe andMizuno, 1955; Kim and Park, 2002; Shimizu et al.,2006) and Internet sites: DFG WA, 2005; The Fishes ofPrimor’e, 2005; FishBase (Froese and Pauly, 2007);USGS (Nico and Fuller, 2007); Species blog, 2007;Japanese Freshwater Fishes, 2007.As the occurrence of this species in the basin of theBlack Sea is unexpected, we include in the present pub-lication a detailed description of the captured specimenwith the data of morphometric analysis made accordingto standard methods (Smirnov, 1986; Miller, 2003) anda description of morphology and coloration used in thediagnoses of species of this genus. At present this goby(female) is deposited at the ZMMU (P-21675).D VI, I 11; A I 11; P 19; V 10; number of transverserows of scales 51. Absolute length (TL) 44.2 mm, bodylength from snout to base of middle rays of caudal fin(SL) 36.5 mm. Teeth in outer row on upper and lowerjaws tricuspid; forehead is narrow and convex, its widthsmaller than horizontal diameter of eye and is 5.1 timesin head length; pores of supraorbital canals large, theirdiameter is similar in size to diameter of posterior nos-tril; supraorbital canals wide, connivent, smallest dis-tance between canal of left and right sides of head (inthe middle of forehead) noticeably smaller than half ofhorizontal eye diameter; rays of first dorsal fin notthreadlike, elongated; uppermost ray of pectoral fin freeof membrane (ends of ray broken on both sides); scaleson occiput and belly present.Morphometric characters, in % SL: greatest bodydepth at beginning of dorsal fin 21.3, depth of caudalpeduncle 12.8, length of caudal peduncle 21.9, antedor-sal distance 38.1, postdorsal distance 51.8, anteventraldistance 35.9, anteanal distance 60.3, pectoventral dis-tance 16.2, ventroanal distance 26.3, pectoral fin length21.6, ventral fin length 18.4, depth of first dorsal fin14.3, length of base of first dorsal fin 19.2, depth of sec-ond dorsal fin 13.2, length of base of second dorsal fin26.0, distance between dorsal fins 2.5, depth of anal fin13.7, length of base of anal fin 20.0, length of caudal fin20.6, head length (c) 28.0. In % c are the following:greatest depth of head 68.6, greatest width of head 78.4,snout length 32.4, length of upper jaw 29.4, length oflower jaw 31.4, horizontal eye diameter 21.6, postor-bital distance 55.9, distance between eye and angle ofmouth 21.6, cheek depth 38.2, distance between anglesof mouth 34.3, width of forehead 19.4.The intravital coloration is light gray, the body isalmost transparent, and there are two contrasting darkbands along the whole body: the upper band beginsover the eye and extends along the dorsal part at thebase of dorsal fins up to the beginning of the upper raysof the caudal fin, the lower band extends from thebeginning of the snout, through the eye, bases of pecto-ral fins, and along the median line of the body up to the

Cobitis pontica sp. nova—a new spined loach species (Cobitidae) from the Bulgarian waters

Spined loaches from the Veleka River (Black Sea coast of Bulgaria), earlier confirmed to represent a separate evolution lineage within a 50-chromosome morph occurring in the Black Sea basin, are described as a new species. This species has the karyotype (2n = 50, NF = 90) similar to one from earlier described C. taurica occurring in the Crimean Peninsula, but differs from it by larger and less numerous spots in the fourth Gambetta’s zone of pigmentation and more anterior position of suborbital spine.

Cobitis amphilekta sp. nova, a new species of spined loaches (Cobitidae, Cypriniformes) from the Caspian Sea basin

We describe spined loaches from the Kyzylagach Bay (Azerbaijan) and from brackish waters of the northeastern Caspian Sea found in museum collections as a separate new species, the Khvalyn loach Cobitis amphilekta. The new species differs from other species of the Caspian basin in the following combination of characteristics: one very narrow, weakly discernible spot in the upper part of the base of the caudal fin; Canestrini’s organ in males with a wide and short plate, usually not reaching the end of the third segment of the attached ray; third Gambetta’s zone of pigmentation usually not reaching the base of the anal fin, often not reaching the end of the pectoral fin; scales of oval shape, with a relatively large central part, weakly shifted towards the anterior margin; pronounced ridges on the margins of the caudal penduncle; and short barbels.

The first record of Misgurnus nikolskyi (Cobitidae) in the South of Western Siberia

281 Until now, only one species of the family Cobitidae was known from water bodies of the south of Western Siberia—Siberian mud loach Cobitis melanoleuca Nichols, 1925 (Vasil’eva, 1998a, 2004), represented here as a subspecies Cobitis melanoleuca granoei Rendahl, 1935 (Vasil’ev and Vasil’eva, 2008). In 2008, in two lakes of the Ob basin the representatives of another genus of cobitids were found for the first time—Misgurnus Lacepède, 1803, whose species have discontinuous native areas on the Eurasian continent: M. fossilis (Linnaeus, 1758) living in water bodies of central and Eastern Europe and some species populat ing water bodies of Eastern Asia—the Far East, China, Mongolia, Korea, Japan (Berg, 1949; Vasil’eva, 1998, 2001, 2004; Kim and Park, 2002; Kot telat, 2006; Kottelat and Freyhof, 2007; Vasil’ev and Vasil’eva, 2008b). The lakes where the mud loach was found are situ ated over large distance from each other. One lake is situated in the Ob floodplain below the dam of the Novosibirsk hydroelectric power plant (Novosibirsk raion, 54°52′43 N, 83°03′02 E), another lake is situ ated on the continental terrace of the Ob, on the right bank of the Novosibirsk Reservoir (Iskitimskii raion, 54°32′35 N, 82°42′15 E). In the period of flooding, the first lake is connected with the Ob and numerous oxbow lakes and channels situated in the close prox imity. Another lake is at some distance from the reser voir and is not connected with it or with other water bodies. The lakes are shallow, with silted bottom and extensive growth of macrophytes in the coastal zone. Besides the mud loach, they are populated with Caras sius auratus (Linnaeus, 1758) and Rhynchocypris perc nurus (Pallas, 1814). For elucidation of the taxonomic status of the found fish, in July–August 2008, 51 specimens of mature mud loaches were caught with bottom traps set in coastal growths of macrophytes. The caught speci mens were preserved with 4% formaldehyde solution for subsequent treatment under laboratory conditions. Morphometric analysis of 47 specimens was made according to the scheme suggested by Pravdin (1966). The absolute fecundity (eggs counted under a binocu lar microscope) was determined in 23 females. The gut contents were analyzed in 26 specimens. Statistical treatment of data was made according to standard univariant methods (Plokhinskii, 1970) using the Sta tistica 6.0 program. Total body length (TL) of the investigated fish var ied from 128.4 to 173.3 mm and weight varied from 7.27 to 21.65 g. Females were larger than males (table). D III 6 and A III 5. In all specimens, the body was elongated, moderately low (the maximum body depth was 8.4–10.5 times in the body length without the caudal fin), and covered with small scales. Head was small; its length was 5.5–8.5 times in body length. The dorsal fin was shifted to the posterior half of the body: its beginning is noticeably closer to posterior end of the caudal fin than to the snout tip. Pelvic fins origi nate at the beginning of the dorsal fin. Paired fins are short; in males they are longer than in females. Pecto ral fins in males are more pointed and their length is 4.8–6.2 times in body length, while in females they are 9.8–12.1 times in body length. The base of the first branched ray of the pectoral fin in males is dilated— there is a bony plate “lamina circularis.” In addition to the aforementioned characteristics, the noticeable dif ferences between specimens of different sex are observed also in mean values of predorsal, prepectoral, preventral, and preanal distances, maximum body depth, maximum body thickness, length of anal fin base, and length of caudal fin. Generally, these dis tinctions are small (table). Coloration of the dorsal side and head is dark gray, and sides are lighter with small dark speckles. The dorsal, caudal, and anal fins are also covered with dark spots. There is no wide lon gitudinal strip at body sides (Fig. 1). By all characters used in diagnostics of various spe cies of the genus Misgurnus, color, presence of “lamina circularis” in males, position of dorsal and ventral fins, The First Record of Misgurnus nikolskyi (Cobitidae) in the South of Western Siberia E. A. Interesovaa, E. N. Yadrenkinaa, and E. D. Vasil’evab a Institute of Systematics and Ecology of Animals, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk, 125009 Russia b Research Zoological Museum, Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia b e mail: vas_katerina@mail.ru