Giant Atlas barbel

Giant Atlas barbel
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Cypriniformes
Family: Cyprinidae
Subfamily: Cyprininae
Genus: Labeobarbus
Species:
L. reinii
Binomial name
Labeobarbus reinii
(Günther, 1874)
Synonyms[2]
  • Barbus reinii Günther, 1874
  • Tor reinii (Günther, 1874)


The giant Atlas barbel (Labeobarbus reinii) was a ray-finned fish species in the family Cyprinidae. It is now thought to be extinct.[1]

It does seem to be fairly close to the core group around the typical barbels (Barbus, Luciobarbus and Messinobarbus). But it is closer still to Carasobarbus and the yellowfish (Labeobarbus), and either is a lineage of the former, or part of a distinct genus, or included in the latter (maybe together with the former).[3] Initially classified in the genus Barbus, it was transferred to the genus Labeobarbus in 2010.[4] The specific name honours the geographer, author and traveler Johannes Justus Rein (1835-1918), who, with Karl von Fritsch, collected the type[5] from the Tensift River in Morocco.[6]

It was endemic to Morocco, where its natural habitats were the Kasab and Tensift Rivers.[4] The species was once plentiful, water pollution (particularly with domestic waste) and unsustainable water extraction (particularly for irrigation agriculture) have caused it to suffer declines, and was last seen in 2001. It was reclassified as extinct by the IUCN in 2022.[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Freyhof, J. & Ford, M. (2022). "Labeobarbus reinii". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2022: e.T60765A137272327. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2022-1.RLTS.T60765A137272327.en. Retrieved 23 July 2022.
  2. ^ Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Labeobarbus reinii". FishBase. February 2022 version.
  3. ^ Martin de Graaf; Hendrik-Jan Megens; Johannis Samalo; A. Ferdinand Sibbing (2007). "Evolutionary origin of Lake Tana's (Ethiopia) small Barbus species: indications of rapid ecological divergence and speciation". Anim. Biol. 57 (1): 39–58. doi:10.1163/157075607780002069.
  4. ^ a b Tsigenopoulos, Costas S.; Kasapidis, Panagiotis; Berrebi, Patrick (August 2010). "Phylogenetic relationships of hexaploid large-sized barbs (genus Labeobarbus, Cyprinidae) based on mtDNA data". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 56 (2): 851–856. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2010.02.006. ISSN 1095-9513. PMID 20152918.
  5. ^ Christopher Scharpf & Kenneth J. Lazara, eds. (7 May 2022). "Order Cypriniformes (: Family CYPRINIDAE: Subfamilies Probarbinae and Torinae". The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database. Christopher Scharpf and Kenneth J. Lazara. Retrieved 23 July 2022.
  6. ^ Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Species in the genus Labeobarbus". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 23 July 2022.