| Moderlieschen | |
|---|---|
| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Cypriniformes |
| Family: | Cyprinidae |
| Genus: | Leucaspius Heckel & Kner, 1858 |
| Species: | L. delineatus |
| Binomial name | |
| Leucaspius delineatus Heckel, 1843 |
|
| Synonyms | |
|
Leucaspius abruptus Heckel & Kner, 1858 |
|
The Moderlieschen or Belica (Leucaspius delineatus) is a species of ray-finned fish in the Cyprinidae family. Formerly, its genus Leucaspius included some other species, but these have all been moved to Ladigesocypris or Pseudophoxinus or merged with L. delineatus, leaving Leucaspius monotypic.
It is found all over temperate continental Europe and barely extends to Central Asia in the Caucasus region. The southern limits of its range are essentially marked by the Pyrenees and the Alpide belt.
Its common name is of German origin. Although it looks like a proper word than can be approximately translated as "mouldy Lizzy", it is actually a bowdlerized version of an older name which survives in parts of Germany as Mutterloseken. Literally meaning "the little motherless one", this ultimately refers to the fact that the sticky eggs of the Moderlieschen can withstand exposure to air for a remarkably long time. Deposited on water plants, they sometimes stick to the feet of ducks and similar birds and are carried by these to ephemeral ponds. Large numbers of young moderlieschens are thus sometimes encountered when such ponds dry up, and with no adult fish being present this gave rise to the belief that they were "motherless".