Thymallus yaluensis
{{Short description|Species of fish}}
{{Speciesbox
| taxon = Thymallus yaluensis
| authority = T. Mori, 1928
}}
Thymallus yaluensis, also known as Yalu grayling, is a putative species of freshwater ray-finned fish in the genus Thymallus (graylings) of the family Salmonidae. It is endemic to the upper Yalu River on the China-North Korea border.
Description
Thymallus yaluensis is a small fish, with a maximum recorded length of {{cvt|20|cm}}. It is renowned in Korea for having "the most beautiful form and fins of a freshwater fish".
Taxonomy dispute
Some confusion exists regarding the identity of T. yaluensis, as it closely resembles the Arctic grayling (Thymallus arcticus) in form and has often been treated as a subspecies (T. a. yaluensis).Eschmeyer W (2015) [http://researcharchive.calacademy.org/research/ichthyology/catalog/fishcatget.asp?spid=28206 yaluensis, Thymallus] Catalog of Fishes, California Academy of Sciences. However, FishBase recognizes it as an independent species.{{FishBase|genus=Thymallus|species=yaluensis|year=2015|month=April}} According to mitochondrial DNA, T. yaluensis is, however, inseparable from the Amur grayling (Thymallus grubii), and was suggested to be a junior synonym of that.MA Bo, HUO Tang-Bin, JIANG Zuo-Fa (2008) [http://www.zootax.com.cn/viewmulu_en.aspx?qi_id=689&mid=18269 Thymallus arcticus yaluensis is a synonym of T. grubii by mitochondrial control region sequences analysis.] Acta Zootaxonomica Sinica 33 (2) Confusingly, it has also been reported from widely separate regions including Siberia, the Alps in Europe, and the northern Mississippi River drainage in North America.{{citation needed|date=May 2015}}