Aphanius iconii Akşiray, 1948

Freyhof, Jörg, Özuluğ, Müfit & Saç, Gülşah, 2017, Neotype designation of Aphanius iconii, first reviser action to stabilise the usage of A. fontinalis and A. meridionalis and comments on the family group names of fishes placed in Cyprinodontidae (Teleostei: Cyprinodontiformes), Zootaxa 4294 (5), pp. 573-585 : 578-581

Aphanius iconii Akşiray, 1948

( Figs. 5–7 )

Neotype. IUSHM 2017-1272 , male, 25 mm SL; Turkey: Isparta prov.: spring Karaot at shore of Lake Eğirdir, about 4 km north of Yenice , 38°08.094'N 30°54.443'E.

Additional material. FSJF 2325, 16, 25–32 mm SL; IUSHM 2017-1273, 10 , 23–28 mm SL; same data as neotype. —FSJF 2476, 6, 28–39 mm SL; IUSHM 2017-1274, 13 , 26–34 mm SL; Turkey: Isparta prov.: lower stream Çayköy at Koysazı bridge, southeast of Eğirdir , 37°50.488N 30°53.493'E. —FSJF 2271, 16, 18–35 mm SL; IUSHM 2017-1281, 7 , 19–32 mm SL; Turkey: Konya prov.: spring Eflatun Pınarı at Sadıkhacı , 37°49.507'N 31°40.458'E.

Diagnosis. Aphanius iconii belongs to the A. anatoliae group in which the following species are recognised as valid: A. anatoliae , A. fontinalis , A. maeandricus , A. meridionalis , A. danfordii , A. marassantensis , A. transgrediens , A. saldae , A. splendens , A. sureyanus and A. villwocki . Adult male A. iconii are distinguished from adult males of all these species by having a black dorsal-fin base followed by a wide, white or hyaline band at about below the middle of the dorsal fin (vs. dorsal fin with a white or hyaline base or base and proximal part of dorsal fin hyaline in A. anatoliae , A. fontinalis , A. saldae , A. splendens , A. sureyanus and A. transgrediens , dorsal fin with white or hyaline blotches shortly above the black dorsal-fin base in A. maeandricus , A. danfordii and A. marassantensis ). Adult male A. iconii are also distinguished from adult male A. fontinalis , A. saldae , A. splendens , A. sureyanus and A. transgrediens by having a narrow black anal-fin margin (vs. margin wide or anal fin almost completely black).

Description. See Figures 5–7 for general appearance and Table 2 for morphometric data of neotype and 10 additional individuals. Dorsal head profile concave. Dorsal profile convex from nape shortly behind head to end of dorsal-fin base or to mid-height of back. Ventral profile gently convex or almost straight from breast to anal-fin origin. Profile straight along caudal peduncle. Body compressed. Body deepest at about dorsal-fin origin. Greatest body width at pectoral-fin base. Lower jaw sharply upturned, oriented nearly perpendicular to body axis. Caudal peduncle compressed laterally, 1.6 times longer than deep in neotype, 1.4–1.7 in males 1.7–2.0 in females. No axillary lobe at base of pelvic fin. Pectoral fin rounded, reaching 80–90% of distance between pectoral- and pelvicfin bases. Pelvic-fin origin four predorsal scales in front of vertical of dorsal-fin origin. Pelvic fin not reaching or reaching to anus. One large scale between pelvic-fin bases. Anus situated slightly in front of anal-fin origin, tissue around genital papillae swollen in nuptial female. Anal fin with convex posterior margin. Dorsal fin roundish in females, reaching to vertical of middle of last anal-fin ray, elongated in males, reaching to of vertical of tip of anal fin. Extremity of dorsal fin rounded in both sexes. Caudal fin rounded to truncate. Largest individual examined 39 mm SL.

neotype other individuals

male males (5) females (5)

mean range SD mean range SD

Standard length (mm) 26 28–29 23–29 In percent of standard length

Head length 30.5 30.2 29.1–30.9 0.6 30.3 28.4–32.5 1.5 Body depth at anal-fin origin 26.4 25.5 23.6–26.4 1.0 21.6 20.8–23.0 1.0 Predorsal length 58.1 56.8 55.4–58.1 1.0 57.3 56.5–58.1 0.7 Preanal length 65.7 65.1 64.0–66.1 0.9 67.3 65.5–69.1 1.5 Prepelvic length 51.0 49.4 48.2–51.0 1.0 50.4 48.4–52.0 1.5 Distance between pectoral and pelvic-fin origins 20.4 19.5 17.9–20.4 1.0 19.9 18.9–20.8 0.9 Distance between pelvic and anal-fin origins 16.4 17.4 16.4–18.0 0.6 17.8 16.0–18.9 1.4 Depth of caudal peduncle 16.5 15.7 14.8–16.6 0.9 14.0 12.9–15.6 1.0 Length of caudal peduncle 25.9 24.6 23.2–26.1 1.2 25.4 23.2–26.8 1.4 Dorsal-fin base length 19.3 20.0 17.6–22.8 1.9 17.2 15.1–20.3 2.0 Anal-fin base length 12.7 13.5 12.1–15.0 1.0 10.9 10.2–11.3 0.4 Pectoral-fin length 18.0 17.4 16.4–18.5 0.9 17.4 15.5–19.9 1.7 Pelvic-fin length 14.1 14.4 14.0–15.4 0.5 13.5 13.0–14.0 0.4 In percent of head length

Head depth at eye 56 57.1 55–59 1.4 55.4 28–32 2.8 Snout length 25 26.3 24–29 1.8 25.5 21–23 1.5 Eye diameter 37 35.1 33–37 1.5 35.6 56–58 1.7 Postorbital distance 46 46.6 45–51 2.2 46.0 65–69 1.1 Maximum head width 59 60.6 58–64 2.4 58.1 48–52 2.0 Interorbital width 34 34.7 31–37 1.9 33.5 19–21 1.7 Dorsal fin with 10½ (8), 11½ (4), branched rays. Anal fin with 9½ (9)–10½ (3) branched rays. Caudal fin with 7+7 (8), 7+6 (1), 7+8 (1) or 8+8 (2) branched rays. Pectoral fin with 13 (3), 14 (9) and pelvic fin with 6 rays. Scales large and cycloid. Trunk and head entirely scaled. One scale row on upper part of opercule. Flank with 27 (8), 28 (8), 29 (1) scales along lateral series. Two (15) or three (2) rows of small scales on anterior caudal-fin base. Lateral line incomplete, with 4–13 pores, scales pored mostly behind vertical of pelvic-fin origin. Teeth tricuspid, median cusp longer than laterals.

Coloration. See Figures 5–7 for general appearance. Males in life: Head and flank silvery or yellowish brown. Cheek, breast and belly whitish or pale yellow. Many small black spots on head and flank. Flank with 7–11 wide, brown or yellowish-brown bars confluent with brown back. Interspaces silvery, much narrower than bars. Scales on back with silvery or yellowish margin. Top of head pale brown. Pectoral fin hyaline or yellow. Pelvic fin hyaline or yellow with narrow black margin. Anal fin hyaline or yellow with narrow black margin, absent in some individuals and in juveniles, and few black blotches on posterior part in most individuals. Dorsal fin black with a black base and a wide, hyaline or white band below middle of fin. Dorsal fin grey distally in some individuals. Caudal fin hyaline or yellow with 1–2 bold black bands. Yellow colour faded in preserved fish.

In life and in preserved females: Body pale grey. Ventral part of head and belly silvery. Head and flank with numerous, small, dark-brown or black blotches, usually horizontally elongates, irregularly set and shaped. Paired fins hyaline, unpaired fins with dark-brown or black blotches, irregularly set and shaped, at base.

Distribution. Aphanius iconii is widely distributed in Lake Eğirdir basin and is known also from Lake Kovada, which is close to Lake Eğirdir.

Remarks. Hrbek et al. (2002) as well as Geiger et al. (2014) included an Aphanius population from Eflatun Pınarı in Lake Beyşehir basin in their analyses. In the study by Hrbek et al. (2002), these fish cluster with A. anatoliae . They form a group slightly differentiated but closely related to A. anatoliae in the tree shown by Geiger et al. (2014). We identify the Aphanius population from Eflatun Pınarı as A. iconii as they show the diagnostic wide hyaline band above a black base in the dorsal fin in males ( Fig. 7 ). It is beyond the aims of this study to analyse this population further to resolve the disagreement between the molecular placement of these fishes and their male colour pattern. We speculate, that introgressive hybridisation of A. anatoliae into A. iconii might have had occurred in the Lake Beyşehir basin. An in-depth study of the Aphanius of Lake Beyşehir basin might help to resolve this question in the future.

Figures

FIGURE 5. Aphanius iconii, IUSHM 2017 - 1272, 25 mm SL, neotype; Turkey: Karaot.

FIGURE 6. Aphanius iconii, FSJF 2325, female, 30 mm SL; Turkey: Karaot; FSJF 2476, male, 25 mm SL; Turkey: Çayköy.

FIGURE 7. Aphanius iconii, FSJF 2271, 30 mm SL; Turkey: spring Eflatun Pınarı.