Thymallus baicalensis, also known as the Baikal black grayling, is a Siberian freshwater fish species in the salmon family Salmonidae.
| Thymallus baicalensis | |
|---|---|
| |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Salmoniformes |
| Family: | Salmonidae |
| Genus: | Thymallus |
| Species: | T. baicalensis
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| Binomial name | |
| Thymallus baicalensis Dybowski, 1874
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Thymallus baicalensis occurs in Lake Baikal, in the inflowing Selenga River and throughout the major Enisei River drainage, and also some eastern tributaries of the Ob River.[1]
It was previously considered a subspecies of the Arctic grayling, Thymallus arcticus baicalensis, but currently one of several distinct Siberian and East Asian grayling species, the closest of which are Thymallys nikolskyi, T. svetovidovi, T. brevicephalus and T. brevirostris. The distinction of these taxa is supported by the phylogeny of their mitochondrial DNA lineages. T. baicalensis is also characterized by a distinct dorsal-fin colouration pattern.[1][2]
The Baikal grayling can grow up to a length 38 cm and 1.2 kg weight. It mainly moves along stony bottoms at shallow depths, feeding on caddisfly and stonefly larvae, amphipod crustaceans and fish eggs.[3]
References
edit- ^ a b Weiss, S. J., D. V. Gonçalves, G. Secci-Petretto, G. K. Englmaier, A. Gomes-Dos-Santos, G. P. J. Denys, H. Persat, A. Antonov, C. Hahn, E. B. Taylor and E. Froufe (2021) Global systematic diversity, range distributions, conservation and taxonomic assessments of graylings (Teleostei: Salmonidae; Thymallus spp.). Organisms Diversity & Evolution: published online on 25 Nov. 2020.
- ^ Berg, L. S. (1962). Freshwater fishes of the U.S.S.R. and adjacent countries: Ryby presnykh vod SSSR i sopredelʹnykh stran (4th, improved and augm., translated from Russian ed.). Israel Program for Scientific Translations; [available from the Office of Technical Services, U.S. Dept. of Commerce, Washington]. Retrieved 28 November 2023.
- ^ Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Thymallus baicalensis". FishBase.