Scardinius spp

Alexander, Timothy & Seehausen, Ole, 2021, Diversity, distribution and community composition of fish in perialpine lakes – “ Projet Lac ” synthesis report, Eawag: Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology : 124

Scardinius spp (rudd)

Two different species of Scardinius occur in the region of this report [9]. Scardinius erythrophthalmus is native north of the Alps with a wide distribution across most of Europe except the peninsulas of Mediterranean Europe. Scardinius hesperidicus is native south of the Alps, and probably only to the Po river catchment and Adriatic rivers east of the Po (Kottelat & Freyhof). Among other differences, the two species can usually be distinguished as adults by the colour of the fins: red in S. erythrophthalmus (particularly the pelvic fins) and dark grey/ brown in S. hesperidicus ( Figure 38 ).

Figures

Figure 38: Examples of Scardinius spp caught in Projet Lac. Upper panel are northern S. erythrophthalmus caught in their native lakes. Upper middle panel are southern S. hesperidicus from their native southern perialpine lakes. Lower middle panel are S. hesperidicus from northern perialpine lakes. Bottom panel are a phenotypic hybrid from Chalain and a backcross hybrid from Zurich, i.e. a phenotypic S. erythrophthalmus that carried S. hesperidicus mitochondrial DNA. * indicates that the identity was confirmed by DNA barcoding.