Orestias (Cyprinodontidae)

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Orestias

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Cyprinodontiformes
Family:	Cyprinodontidae
Genus:	Orestias Valenciennes, 1839

Species

see text.

Orestias is a genus of pupfish. Older systematics classified them into the own family Orestiidae. They are carnivorous plankton feeders and can reach a length between 9 and 22 centimetres. Their most characteristic feature is the absence of the ventral fin. They are endemic in the Lake Titicaca and other lakes of the Altiplano in Peru, Bolivia, and Chile in an altitude up to 3,600 metres asl. Many species of that genus became rare in the past decades due to the competition with introduced fish species, pollution and human activities at the lakes. One species - the Titicaca Orestias (Orestias cuvieri) - was last seen in 1939 and is probably extinct.

1 Taxonomy
2 References
3 Sources

[edit] Taxonomy

The following 43 species belong to the genus Orestias which were devided by American ichthyologist Lynne R. Parenti depending on their relationships into four species complexes in 1984. ^[1]

[edit] Agassii species complex

Orestias agassizii
Orestias albus
Orestias ascotanensis
Orestias chungarensis
Orestias ctenolepis
Orestias elegans
Orestias empyraeus
Orestias frontosus
Orestias gymnotus
Orestias hardini
Orestias jussiei
Orestias lastarriae
Orestias laucaensis
Orestias luteus
Orestias multiporis
Orestias mundus
Orestias olivaceus
Orestias parinacotensis
Orestias polonorum
Orestias puni
Orestias richersoni
Orestias rotundipinnis
Orestias silustani
Orestias tschudii
Orestias ututo

[edit] Cuvieri species complex

Orestias cuvieri
Orestias forgeti
Orestias ispi
Orestias pentlandii

[edit] Gilsoni species complex

Orestias gilsoni
Orestias imarpe
Orestias minimus
Orestias minutus
Orestias mooni
Orestias robustus
Orestias taquiri
Orestias tchernavini
Orestias tomcooni
Orestias uruni

[edit] Mulleri species complex

Orestias crawfordi
Orestias gracilis
Orestias incae
Orestias mulleri
Orestias tutini

[edit] References

Villwock, W., 1972. Gefahren für die endemische Fischfauna durch Einbürgerungsversuche und Akklimatisation von Fremdfischen am Beispiel des Titicacas-Sees (Peru/Bolivien) und des Lanao-Sees (Mindanao/Philippinen).. Verh. Internat. Verein. Limnol. 18(1227-1234).