Aphyocypris lini, the garnet minnow or Venus minnow, is a species of cyprinid endemic to

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. It was first collected from Hong Kong by A.W. Herre in 1936. The introduction of

mosquitofish The western Mosquitofish (''Gambusia affinis'') is a North American freshwater fish, also known commonly, if ambiguously, as simply Mosquitofish or by its generic name, ''Gambusia'', or by the common name gambezi. Its sister species, the easte ...

(''Gambusia affinis'') and habitat destruction caused the extirpation of this species from Hong Kong and the species was considered to be

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

in the wild. However, a similar species '' Aphyocypris pulchrilineata'' was discovered in

Guangxi Guangxi (; ; Chinese postal romanization, alternately romanized as Kwanghsi; ; za, Gvangjsih, italics=yes), officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (GZAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the People's Republic ...

in southern China, but this species lacks the dark spot on the base of the caudal fin. Named in honor of Chinese ichthyologist Lin Shu-Yen (1903-1974).

Description

''Aphyocypris lini'' is a small fish which has a yellowish-brown body with a bluish back and a white underside which are separated by a series of parallel stripes with the middle stripe being reddish-yellow, a bluish black stripe above and an iridescent green line below it. There is a large blue spot, edged with gold at the base of the caudal fin while the fins are white. It has pelvic scutes which run from the base of the

pelvic fin Pelvic fins or ventral fins are paired fins located on the ventral surface of fish. The paired pelvic fins are homologous to the hindlimbs of tetrapods. Structure and function Structure In actinopterygians, the pelvic fin consists of two en ...

to the anus. There is no

lateral line The lateral line, also called the lateral line organ (LLO), is a system of sensory organs found in fish, used to detect movement, vibration, and pressure gradients in the surrounding water. The sensory ability is achieved via modified epithelial ...

but there are 30–32 scales along lateral axis. Adults grow to 50 mm total length. It has three spines and seven soft rays in the dorsal fin with three spines and eight soft rayes in the

anal fin Fins are distinctive anatomical features composed of bony spines or rays protruding from the body of a fish. They are covered with skin and joined together either in a webbed fashion, as seen in most bony fish, or similar to a flipper, as se ...

Distribution

This species is endemic to southern China and it was first recorded in

Fanling Fanling ( zh, t=粉嶺; also spelled Fan Ling or Fan Leng) is a town in the New Territories East of Hong Kong. Administratively, it is part of the North District. Fanling Town is the main settlement of the Fanling area. The name Fanling i ...

in the New Territories of Hong Kong in 1939, and was found in the Tai Mo Shan area in 1992, but since then there have been no records in the wild.

Habitat

''Aphyocypris lini'' is a benthopelagic fish species which lives ditches and rivers where there is clear, shallow water with dense aquatic vegetation. Spawning occurs in open water with sandy and gravel substrates.

Conservation

The decline In the wild populations of ''Aphyocypris lini'' is thought to be due to habitat destruction by human development such as the construction of hydroelectric projects, water pollution and deforestation. They were possibly also affected by competition from introduced fish species such as the mosquitofish. The only currently known population of the garnet minnow are in captive breeding facilities in Hong Kong, Macau and some other southeastern Asia countries where they are bred for export in the aquarium trade. It is possible that the species could be reintroduced to the wild using captive bred fish after habitat restoration and the removal of invasive alien competitors.

Sources

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3760614 Cyprinid fish of Asia Freshwater fish of China Taxa named by Stanley Howard Weitzman Taxa named by Chan Lai-Lee Fish described in 1966