Rhodeus amarus

Taxonomy

Assessment Information

Geographic Range

Population

Habitat and Ecology

Threats

Conservation Actions

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Taxonomy [top]

Kingdom	Phylum	Class	Order	Family
ANIMALIA	CHORDATA	ACTINOPTERYGII	CYPRINIFORMES	CYPRINIDAE

Scientific Name:

Rhodeus amarus

Species Authority:

(Bloch, 1782)

Common Name/s:

English

–

Bitterling

Taxonomic Notes:

Considered conspecific with the East Asian R. sericeus by some authors; the two species have widely disjunct ranges. There are undocumented records of introduction of the Chinese R. ocellatus in Germany. R. ocellatus is distinguished by having 10-121/2 branched dorsal rays (vs. 91/2, 101/2, in R. amarus) and females and juveniles with a black blotch in anterior part of dorsal (vs. no blotch). Rhodeus from the Asian Black Sea basin in Russia and Georgia (and possibly Anatolian ones too) belong to R. colchicus.

Assessment Information [top]

Red List Category & Criteria:	Least Concern ver 3.1
Year Assessed:	2008
Assessor/s	Freyhof, J. & Kottelat, M.
Evaluator/s:	Bogutskaya, N., & Smith, K. (IUCN Freshwater Biodiversity Unit)
Justification: Abundant and expanding in most of its range. Locally threatened by water pollution, weed clearing, and stocking of predatory fish.

Geographic Range [top]

Range Description:	Basins of North, southern Baltic, Black, western and southern Caspian and Aegean Seas (south to Pinios drainage); Mediterranean basin, only in northern Rhône (France) and Drin drainages (Albania, Montenegro, Macedonia). Invasive in France in southern Rhône and west of Seine, in southern Russia in Don and Kuban drainages. Introduced to Great Britain and northern Italy. Absent in River Ural, Denmark, Scandinavia, Iberian and Apennine Peninsulas, most of Adriatic basin and Black Sea basin south of Kuban drainage.
Countries:	Native: Albania; Austria; Belarus; Belgium; Bosnia and Herzegovina; Bulgaria; Croatia; Czech Republic; France; Germany; Greece; Hungary; Italy; Lithuania; Luxembourg; Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of; Moldova; Montenegro; Netherlands; Poland; Romania; Russian Federation; Serbia; Slovakia; Slovenia; Switzerland; Turkey; Ukraine
Range Map:	(click map to view full version)

Population [top]

Population:	Abundant.
Population Trend:	Unknown

Habitat and Ecology [top]

Habitat and Ecology:	Habitat: Most abundant in still or slow-flowing water with dense aquatic vegetation and sand-silt bottom as lowland ponds, canals, slow-flowing rivers, backwaters and oxbows, where mussels are present. Biology: Spawns for the first time at one year and about 30-35 mm SL. Lives exceptionally up to five years but most individuals do not survive the year of their first reproduction and populations sizes fluctuate greatly over the years. Spawns in April-August.
Systems:	Freshwater

Habitat and Ecology:

Habitat:
Most abundant in still or slow-flowing water with dense aquatic vegetation and sand-silt bottom as lowland ponds, canals, slow-flowing rivers, backwaters and oxbows, where mussels are present.

Biology:
Spawns for the first time at one year and about 30-35 mm SL. Lives exceptionally up to five years but most individuals do not survive the year of their first reproduction and populations sizes fluctuate greatly over the years. Spawns in April-August.

Systems:

Freshwater

Threats [top]

Major Threat(s):	Locally threatened by water pollution, weed clearing, and stocking of predatory fish.

Major Threat(s):

Locally threatened by water pollution, weed clearing, and stocking of predatory fish.

Conservation Actions [top]

Conservation Actions:	Natura 200 species.

Conservation Actions:

Natura 200 species.

Citation:	Freyhof, J. & Kottelat, M. 2008. Rhodeus amarus. In: IUCN 2009. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2009.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 09 February 2010.
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