Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range
Ecology
Freshwater; brackish; demersal; potamodromous (Ref. 51243). Temperate; 4°C - 25°C (Ref. 1672); 62°N - 42°N, 15°E - 61°E
Europe and Asia: In Europe, north of the Alps, from Meuse eastward to Neva drainages and Lake Ladoga; northern Black Sea basin from Danube eastward to Kuban, absent on the southern section; Caspian basin in Volga and Ural drainages. Not native to Great Britain, Scandinavia, Apennine and Iberian peninsulas, Crimea, and Adriatic, Aegean and White Sea basins. Locally introduced in Rhône drainage (France) and perhaps elsewhere (Ref. 59043).
Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age
Maturity: Lm ?, range 11 - ? cm
Max length : 30.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 556); 30.7 cm TL (female); common length : 15.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 556)
Short description
Identification keys | Morphology | Morphometrics
Facultative air-breathing (Ref. 126274); Found in lower reaches of slow-flowing rivers, but can also be found in still pools (Ref. 9696), on sandy bottoms of ponds, pools and ditches. Adults are nocturnal which burrow into mud during dry periods and strong frosts. Usually, burrows are 20-30 cm deep, occasionally down to 70 cm during dry periods (Ref. 59043). During the day, they stay buried in the sand. Feed on insect larvae and small mollusks. Seldom captured with hook and line (Ref. 30578). Are sensitive to pollutants which accumulate in the sediment (Ref. 11941). Facultative air-breathers (Ref. 27368). A female specimen measuring 30.7 cm TL was recorded from Netherlands (Ref. 114650).
Male follows female into dense vegetation and forms a complete ring around her body, behind dorsal fin (Ref. 59043).
Kottelat, M. and J. Freyhof, 2007. Handbook of European freshwater fishes. Publications Kottelat, Cornol and Freyhof, Berlin. 646 pp. (Ref. 59043)
IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435: Version 2024-1)
Threat to humans
Harmless
Human uses
Fisheries: of no interest; bait: usually
Tools
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Internet sources
Estimates based on models
Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref.
82804): PD
50 = 0.5039 [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00417 (0.00228 - 0.00763), b=3.10 (2.94 - 3.26), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this species & (Sub)family-body (Ref.
93245).
Trophic level (Ref.
69278): 3.4 ±0.45 se; based on food items.
Resilience (Ref.
120179): Medium, minimum population doubling time 1.4 - 4.4 years (tm=2; Fec=100,000-150,000).
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref.
59153): Low vulnerability (21 of 100).
