Misgurnus nikolskyi Vasil’eva, 2001 a as new specie in the fish fauna of Altai Krai (West Siberia, the Russian Federation)

Abstract

License 4.0. Abstract. The article reports on the discovery of a fish species identified as Misgurnus nikolskyi Vasil’eva, 2001 at a new location: the water bodies of Altai Krai (West Siberia, the Russian Federation). The new location of the species has been established in the floodplain water body of the Burla River basin, which belongs to the drainless area of the Ob-Irtysh interfluve. The authors provide a description of the species’ biological and ecological features. It is noted that the external morphology of the examined sample is similar to previously studied specimens from the water bodies of their native habitat. However, the specimens described by us are 1.5-2.0 times longer than those of the previously noted populations of the Upper Ob basin. In terms of the current species sex composition, the population is largely dominated be females, and their absolute individual fecundity may reach 15.3-17.0 thousand eggs. These data suggest that the species shows all the signs of the “acclimatisation effect”. Chironomidae and Diptera larvas comprise the base of the species’ food bolus, while smaller Gastropoda representatives are less