A new species of cyprinid fish with a pattern of dark vertical bars has been described from south China.
Acrossocheilus spinifer has just been described by Yuan, Wu and Zhang of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in the latest issue of the Journal of Fish Biology.
The new species was found in the river systems of the Fujian Province and in the Guandong Province's Han Jiang basin in south China.
The fish is a member of the barred Acrossocheilus group - which contains 16 species and subspecies - and is said to closely resemble A. wenchowensis morphologically, but physically resembles A. kreyenbergii and stenotaeniatus in sharing a blunt snout, underslung mouth in which the lower jaw is fully covered by the lip, and a serrated posterior edge to the last simple dorsal fin ray.
It's easily told apart from the other four commonly seen Acrossocheilus, fasciatus, paradoxus, parallens and jishouensis which all have a longitudinal stripe rather than vertical bars.
The authors state that there are remarkable differences in the numbers of vertical bars in the barred Acrossocheilus group, which can make identification tricky:
"Seven or eight vertical dark bars, no more than three scales in width, on the flank are typical of Acrossocheilus monticola (Gnther). Five vertical dark bars, three to five scales in width, are present in Acrossocheilus clivosius (Lin, 1935) and Acrossocheilus beijiangensis Wu & Lin, or six to eight scales in width in Acrossocheilus iridescens (Nichols and Pope).
"There are seven other species sharing with A. spinifer sp. nov. the presence of five or six vertical dark bars, two scales in width, on the flank, namely A. kreyenbergii, A. fasciatus, A. paradoxus, A. parallens, A. stenotaeniatus, A. jishouensis, and A. wenchowensis; A. paradoxus is a senior synonym of two currently recognized species A. formosanus (Regan) and A. labiatus (Regan) (Sung et al. 1993)."
The new species is said to inhabit bottom and midwater parts of the upper reaches of rivers and hill streams with fast-flowing clear water and a gravelly bottom. Like other Acrossocheilus it is a gregarious species that is found in shoals where it feeds on insects and benthic crustaceans, as well as algae and plant detritus.
The species reaches sexual maturity at a size of around 10cm/4" and spawns between April and June. The fish is commonly eaten as food, however, its eggs are apparently poisonous and cause nausea, vomiting, sickness and diarrhea.
For more information on the new species see the paper: Yuan LY, ZQ Wu and E Zhang (2006) - Acrossocheilus spinifer, a new species of barred cyprinid fish from south China (Pisces: Teleostei). Journal of Fish Biology, Volume 68 Page 163 - June 2006.