The ginbuna (''Carassius langsdorfii''), sometimes referred to as silver crucian carp or Japanese silver crucian carp, is a species of freshwater

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of ...

in the carp

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

(family Cyprinidae). It is native to lakes and rivers in Japan.

Description

Ginbuna is a deep- and thick-bodied fish with a terminal mouth and a large

caudal 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 ...

. It possesses 5 anal fin rays, 41–57

gill rakers Gill rakers in fish are bony or cartilaginous processes that project from the branchial arch (gill arch) and are involved with suspension feeding tiny prey. They are not to be confused with the gill filaments that compose the fleshy part of t ...

, and has 28–31 large lateral line scales. It reaches a maximum length of . This species is parasitized by

myxozoa Myxozoa (etymology: Greek: μύξα ''myxa'' "slime" or "mucus" + thematic vowel o + ζῷον ''zoon'' "animal") is a subphylum of aquatic cnidarian animals – all obligate parasites. It contains the smallest animals ever known to have lived. O ...

cnidarians Cnidaria () is a phylum under kingdom Animalia containing over 11,000 species of aquatic animals found both in freshwater and marine environments, predominantly the latter. Their distinguishing feature is cnidocytes, specialized cells that the ...

of the genus '' Myxobolus'', which infest their gills.

Taxonomy

The ginbuna can be difficult to distinguish from the common

goldfish The goldfish (''Carassius auratus'') is a freshwater fish in the family Cyprinidae of order Cypriniformes. It is commonly kept as a pet in indoor aquariums, and is one of the most popular aquarium fish. Goldfish released into the wild have bec ...

(''Carassius auratus''), to which it is closely related. In fact, it has often been treated as a subspecies of goldfish. However, current genetic data suggests that the ginbuna is a distinct species. The ginbuna commonly hybridizes with other species in its genus where they come into contact, as well as with the closely related common carp. It is believed that the ginbuna originated as a hybrid of two different species, although the parent species are unknown.

Distribution and habitat

The ginbuna is native to Japan, where it is widespread, but has been introduced to many other parts of the world. In Europe it has been confirmed in the

Elbe River The Elbe (; cs, Labe ; nds, Ilv or ''Elv''; Upper Sorbian, Upper and dsb, Łobjo) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of ...

system in the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

, and the Neretva basin in

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and H ...

. Haplotype data indicates that European ginbuna derive from populations in either

Honshu Island , historically called , is the largest and most populous island of Japan. It is located south of Hokkaidō across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyūshū across the Kanmon Straits. The island sep ...

or the

Ryukyu Islands The , also known as the or the , are a chain of Japanese islands that stretch southwest from Kyushu to Taiwan: the Ōsumi, Tokara, Amami, Okinawa, and Sakishima Islands (further divided into the Miyako and Yaeyama Islands), with Yona ...

, suggesting multiple introduction events. Additionally, a 2018 study using

mtDNA Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA or mDNA) is the DNA located in mitochondria, cellular organelles within eukaryotic cells that convert chemical energy from food into a form that cells can use, such as adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Mitochondrial DNA ...

discovered the fish in Lake Tahoe, California and in a pond on the campus of the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks among the top thre ...

, the first time this species has been found in North America. Also in 2020, this species was reported for the first time in Iran after several specimens were collected from Siah Palas stream in

Lar National Park Lar National Park (Persian پارک ملی لار ''park-e melli-e lar'') is a protected area in Mazandaran Province in northern Iran. Geography The park is in the Central Alborz mountain range, at the foot of Mount Damavand. It has been a n ...

. This is also the first record of this species from the Asian mainland.Khosravi, M., Abdoli, A., Ahmadzadeh, F., Saberi‐Pirooz, R., Rylková, K., & Kiabi, B. H. (2020). Toward a preliminary assessment of the diversity and origin of Cyprinid fish genus Carassius in Iran. Journal of Applied Ichthyology. https://doi.org/10.1111/jai.14039 These introductions may have been a result of ginbuna being unintentionally included with imports of goldfish or koi carp. It is a demersal species, favoring confluences of

tributaries A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainag ...

and still downstream waters of rivers, as well as

marshes A marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous rather than woody plant species.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p Marshes can often be found at ...

. Muddy substrates are preferred.

Diet

Ginbuna are

omnivorous An omnivore () is an animal that has the ability to eat and survive on both plant and animal matter. Obtaining energy and nutrients from plant and animal matter, omnivores digest carbohydrates, protein, fat, and fiber, and metabolize the nut ...

. They eat benthic organisms, algae,

zooplankton Zooplankton are the animal component of the planktonic community ("zoo" comes from the Greek word for ''animal''). Plankton are aquatic organisms that are unable to swim effectively against currents, and consequently drift or are carried along by ...

, and will opportunistically consume other items.

Reproduction

Unusually among vertebrates, the ginbuna species has two different reproductive modes. The diploid form practices the usual

sexual reproduction Sexual reproduction is a type of reproduction that involves a complex life cycle in which a gamete ( haploid reproductive cells, such as a sperm or egg cell) with a single set of chromosomes combines with another gamete to produce a zygote th ...

. However, the triploid and rare tetraploid forms practice a type of asexual reproduction known as

gynogenesis Gynogenesis, a form of parthenogenesis, is a system of asexual reproduction that requires the presence of sperm without the actual contribution of its DNA for completion. The paternal DNA dissolves or is destroyed before it can fuse with the egg. Th ...

, in which the sperm contributes no genetic material, but its presence is required for egg development.

Importance to humans

The clonal nature of polyploid ginbuna makes them an ideal

model A model is an informative representation of an object, person or system. The term originally denoted the plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin ''modulus'', a measure. Models c ...

fish for studying diseases of other

cyprinid Cyprinidae is a family of freshwater fish commonly called the carp or minnow family. It includes the carps, the true minnows, and relatives like the barbs and barbels. Cyprinidae is the largest and most diverse fish family and the largest ver ...

species. This usefulness derives from the absence of genetic variance within the clone.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q21363122 Carassius Fish of Japan Fish described in 1846 Taxa named by Coenraad Jacob Temminck Taxa named by Hermann Schlegel