Tropidophoxinellus hellenicus
{{Short description|Species of fish}}
{{Speciesbox
| status = NT
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| taxon = Tropidophoxinellus hellenicus
| display_parents = 3
| authority = (Stephanidis, 1971)
| synonyms = Rutilus alburnoides hellenicus Stephanidis, 1971
| synonyms_ref = {{Cof genus|genus=Tropidophoxinellus|access-date=28 April 2025}}
}}
Tropidophoxinellus hellenicus, the Hellenic roachminnow, is a species of freshwater ray-finned fish belonging to the family Leuciscidae, which includes the daces, Eurasian minnows and related species. This fish is endemic to southern Greece.
Taxonomy
Tropidophoxinellus hellenicus was first formally described as Rutilus alburnoides hellenicus in 1971 by the Greek ichthyologist Alexander I. Stephanidis with its type locality given as the Pinios River at Vartholomio in Peloponnesus, Greece. This species is now classified in the genus Tropidophoxinellus which was proposed as a genus by Stephanidis in 1974 and is classified within the subfamily Leuciscinae in the Family Leuciscidae.{{Cof family|family=Leuciscinae|access-date=28 April 2025}}
Etymology
Tropidophoxinellus hellenicus is classified in the genus Tropidophoxinellus, a name which prefixes the minnow genus name Phoxinus with trophidos, the genitive of tropis, which means "keel" and is an allusion to the scaleless keel which runs from the pelvic fins to the anus. The specific name, hellenicus, means "of Greece", where this species is endemic.{{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=28 April 2025 |work=The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database |publisher=Christopher Scharpf}}
==Description==
Tropidophoxinellus hellenicus can be told apart from T. spartiaticus by its mouth opening upwards, the lower jaw projects beyond the upper jaw and by having between 37 and 40 scales along the lateral line. This species has a maximum standard length of {{cvt|9.3|cm}}.{{FishBase|Tropidophoxinellus|hellenicus|month=February|year=2025}}
Distribution and habitat
Tropidophoxinellus hellenicus is endemic to the southwestern Greece. Here it occurs from the lower Achelous, including lakes Trichonida, Lysimachia and Amvrakia, south to the Pineios River in the northwestern Peloponnese. This is s schooling species of lowland rivers, lakes and spring-fed streams where there is slow-moving or still water with aquatic vegetation.
Conservation
Tropidophoxinellus hellenicus is classified as Near-threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The threats to this species include pollution, water abstraction, anthropogenic habitat modification, drought and non-native invasive species.