''Oxynoemacheilus bureschi'', the Struma stone loach, is a species of ray-finned fish in the stone loach family ( Nemacheilidae). It is found in the Struma, Vardar and Nestos river basins Bulgaria, Greece, North Macedonia, and SerbiaList of fish species of Serbia
/ref> Its natural habitat is rivers, preferring larger streams with fast currents, especially in the middle. It cannot survive where the rivers have been canalised and it is threatened by habitat loss. The specific name honours the Bulgarian

ichthyologist Ichthyology is the branch of zoology devoted to the study of fish, including bony fish ( Osteichthyes), cartilaginous fish (Chondrichthyes), and jawless fish (Agnatha). According to FishBase, 33,400 species of fish had been described as of Octobe ...

Ivan Buresh Ivan Yosifov Buresh ( bg, Иван Йосифов Буреш; 27 December 1885 – 8 August 1980) was a Bulgarian zoologist and entomologist who has been dubbed "the patriarch of Bulgarian biology". Ivan Buresh was born in Sofia, the capital of the ...

, who was able to influence the Bulgarian monarch Boris III to allow Drensky to collect specimens in Bulgaria. ''Oxynoemacheilus bureschi'' is nocturnal and feeds on benthic invertebrates, particularly worms and insect larvae. The breeding season runs from May to July and the spawning takes place among stones, gravels and plants in shallow running water. The fish are sexually mature once they have attained a length of 5 cm.

References

bureschi Freshwater fish of Europe Taxa named by Pencho Drensky Fish described in 1928 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Nemacheilidae-stub