Squalius

Squalius
Angler with European Chub (S. cephalus) caught in the Rhine
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Superclass: Osteichthyes
Class: Actinopterygii
Subclass: Neopterygii
Infraclass: Teleostei
Superorder: Ostariophysi
Order: Cypriniformes
Superfamily: Cyprinioidea
Family: Cyprinidae
Subfamily: Leuciscinae
Genus: Squalius
Bonaparte, 1837
Species

About 41, see text

Squalius is a ray-finned fish genus in the family Cyprinidae, containing the European chubs (the "European Chub" proper is S. cephalus). This genus belongs to the subfamily Leuciscinae as other chubs and daces generally do.

The Eurasian daces, Leuciscus, are close relatives. The present genus was formerly entirely included there, and their delimitation with respect to each other is somewhat uncertain. A number of species have in recent times been moved from one genus to the other. Generally, Leuciscus in the modern sense is widespread across Eurasia, whereas Squalius is almost limited to Europe proper.

Hybridization is not rare in Cyprinidae, including this genus. S. alburnoides is known to be of ancient hybrid origin, with the paternal lineage deriving from a prehistoric species related to Anaecypris; the latter mated with ancestral S. pyrenaicus. Present-day S. alburnoides mate with sympatric congeners of other species.[1]

Species

New species are described every now and then.[2]

Footnotes

  1. ^ Sousa-Santos et al. (2007)
  2. ^ FishBase (2011)

References