Dark pigmentation on paired fins are faint, as opposed to the unpaired fins which have well-developed dark vermiculations.” “The fish has grey to yellow-green flanks adorned with 16 to 30 oblique vertical bars with a width of 1–1.5 scale (very well marked in juveniles), which tend to be discontinuous into little irregular white blotches in larger fish, conferring a marbled aspect with very small white blotches,” Dr Keith and his co-authors wrote in a paper published in the journal Comptes Rendus Biologies. The new species has been named the Aquitanian pike ( Esox aquitanicus) as it was found in Aquitaine. Surprisingly, the data revealed the presence of three distinct species: the expected and widely distributed Northern pike ( Esox lucius), the Cisalpine pike ( Esox cisalpinus, in the 19th century in Lake Geneva) and a previously unknown species. To clarify the taxonomy of pikes present in France, Dr Keith and his colleagues from the University of Claude-Bernard in Lyon and the National Museum of Natural History in Paris analyzed morphological and molecular data on 19th century and recent specimens collected in the main French drainages. There are records of its introduction in the small coastal French Mediterranean rivers out of the Rhône itself.Īrcheological data indicate the presence of the Northern pike in the region called Aquitaine during the Pleistocene (2.5 million to 11,700 years ago), suggesting that it is native to the Dordogne and Garonne rivers and maybe also in the Adour drainage. The fish is native to the Rhine, Seine, Loire, and Rhône drainages. In France, pike is considered by default to be Esox lucius, a species commonly known as the Northern pike. The Aquitanian pike ( Esox aquitanicus), holotype specimen.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |