Living habits and morphological characteristics of Tarim Schizothorax (Xinjiang Pipefish)

Tarim Schizothorax (Racoma) biddulphi belongs to the order Cypriniformes, Cyprinidae, Schizothorax subfamily, and Schizothorax genus. Common name: pipefish. English name: Tarim schizothoracin.

Endangerment level: Endangered.

The body is long, slightly flattened on the sides, slightly raised on the back, and round in the abdomen. The head is small and tapered. Tip of the kiss. Mouth sub-inferior, nearly horseshoe-shaped. Lips smooth. The inner side of the mandible is slightly horny. The lower lip is particularly thin and narrow, divided into left and right lobes. There are 2 pairs of barbels, equal in length or slightly longer at the corners of the mouth, and their length is approximately equal to the diameter of the eye. Small eyes. The scales are small, the chest is exposed, the abdomen has 2 rows of anal fins, and 110-118 lateral line scales. The dorsal fin has well-developed hard spines and the trailing edge is serrated. The starting points of the dorsal and pelvic fins are opposite; the ends of the caudal fin blades are slightly rounded. The back of the body is blue-gray, the abdomen is silvery white, the chest, abdomen and anal fins are light yellow, and the caudal fin is light red.

Inhabits rivers in plateau areas and also enters lakes. It can live in both still water and micro-flowing water. Often feed on benthic invertebrates, algae or plant debris. They lay eggs in running water in late spring, with the peak season from May to June.

Tarim Schizothorax is a fish unique to Xinjiang and is distributed in the Tarim water system. It turns out to be the main economic fish unique to the Tarim water system. Since the 1960s, the number of fish caught has continued to increase, resulting in overproduction and insufficient replacement of the population, so the population decline has accelerated. At the same time, due to the introduction of alien species, alien fish dominate the competition between alien species and indigenous species. In addition, large-scale reclamation of wasteland for the development of production, diversion of water for irrigation, resulting in depletion of water flow and deterioration of the ecological environment, make this species grow slowly and The resources of fish that mature at a later age are declining year by year and are currently on the verge of extinction.

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