Alburnus scoranza
{{Short description|Species of fish}}
{{speciesbox
| image = Alburnus scoranza (10.3897-zookeys.870.36235) Figure 3.jpg
| status=LC
| status_system=IUCN3.1
| taxon=Alburnus scoranza
| authority=Bonaparte, 1845
}}
Alburnus scoranza, the Skadar bleak, is a species of ray-finned fish belonging to the family Leuciscidae, which includes the minnows, daces and related fishes. This species occurs only in the basins of Lake Skadar (Liqeni i Shkodrës) in Montenegro and Albania; and in Lake Ohrid in Albania and North Macedonia.
Taxonomy
Alburnus scoranza was first formally described in 1845 by the French biologist and art collector Charles Lucien Bonaparte with its type locality given as Lake Skadar in Montenegro. This taxon has been treated as a synonym of the common bleak (A. alburnus) and of A. mento but is now regarded as a valid species. In some publications the authors of this name are given as Heckel & Kner, 1857.{{Cof genus|genus=Alburnus|access-date=4 April 2025}} This species is classified as a member of the genus Alburnus, many species of which share the English common name of bleak, within the subfamily Leuciscinae of the family Leuciscidae.{{Cof family|family=Leuciscinae|access-date=4 April 2025}}
Etymology
Alburnus scoranza belongs to the genus Alburnus a name derived from the Latin for whitefish but it also refers to the bleak, a name which means pale in English, in reference to the pale non lustrous colour of A. alburnus. The specific name, scoranza, is the common name given to this species around Lake Skadar.{{cite web |url=https://etyfish.org/leuciscinae/ |title=Family LEUCISCIDAE: Subfamily LEUCISCINAE Bonaparte 1835 (European Minnows)|author=Christopher Scharpf |date=8 April 2024 |access-date=4 April 2025 |work=The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database |publisher=Christopher Scharpf}}
Description
Alburnus scoranza is distinguished from related species around the Adriatic Sea in having the origin of the anal fin underneath or immediately to the rear of the base of last branched dorsal fin ray. The lateral line has between 47 and 53 scales along its length. The anal fin has 13 to {{fraction|14|1|2}} branched fin rays. The ventral keel is exposed for two thirds of the distance between the anus and the pelvic fins. There is no faint lateral stripe in living specimens. The Skadar bleak has a maximum total length of {{cvt|17.9|cm}}.{{FishBase|Alburnus|scoranza|month=October|year=2024}}
Distribution and habitat
Biology
Alburnus scoranza is a gregarious species that feeds on cladocerans and copepods. For breeding this species lays its eggs in sand, gravel or rocky substrates either in riffles in tributary streams to the lakes or in the shallows, at depths around {{cvt|30|cm}}, near the shore.
References
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Category:Fish described in 1858