The weatherfish (''Misgurnus fossilis'') is a species of
true loach that has a wide range in
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...
and some parts of
Asia
Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...
. It is an omnivorous scavenger bottom feeder, using its sensitive
barbels
In fish anatomy and turtle anatomy, a barbel is a slender, whiskerlike sensory organ near the mouth. Fish that have barbels include the catfish, the carp, the goatfish, the hagfish, the sturgeon, the zebrafish, the black dragonfish and some s ...
to find edible items. The diet mostly consists of small aquatic invertebrates along with some
detritus. The weatherfish is long and thin which allows it to burrow through the substrate and navigate through places that deeper bodied fish would have trouble with. It grows up to 30 cm (12 in) in
total length
Fish measurement is the measuring of individual fish and various parts of their anatomies. These data are used in many areas of ichthyology, including taxonomy and fisheries biology.
Overall length
* Standard length (SL) is the length of a fish ...
,
though there are fishermen who say they have caught longer, up to 45 cm (17.7 in).
If true, this would make ''Misgurnus fossilis'' the largest species of
true loach.
This loach has a very wide range, especially in Europe. It occurs north of the
Alps
The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Swi ...
, from the
Meuse River
The Meuse ( , , , ; wa, Moûze ) or Maas ( , ; li, Maos or ) is a major European river, rising in France and flowing through Belgium and the Netherlands before draining into the North Sea from the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta. It has a ...
in western Europe all the way to the
Neva River in northwestern
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
. It also occurs in the northern part of the
Black Sea
The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Rom ...
basin from the
Danube River
The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , pa ...
to the
Kuban River
The Kuban; Circassian: Псыжъ, ''Psyẑ'' or Псыжь, ''Psyź'' ; abq, Къвбина, ''Q̇vbina'' ; Karachay–Balkar: Къобан, ''Qoban''; Nogai: Кобан, ''Qoban'') is a river in Russia that flows through the Western Cauca ...
, and in the
Caspian Sea
The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, often described as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. An endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia; east of the Caucasus, west of the broad steppe of Central Asia ...
in the
River Volga
The Volga (; russian: Во́лга, a=Ru-Волга.ogg, p=ˈvoɫɡə) is the longest river in Europe. Situated in Russia, it flows through Central Russia to Southern Russia and into the Caspian Sea. The Volga has a length of , and a catchmen ...
and
River Ural drainages.
It is also introduced in a few different areas, but not to the extent of the
pond loach
The pond loach (''Misgurnus anguillicaudatus''), also known as the Dojo loach or oriental weatherfish, is a freshwater fish in the loach family Cobitidae. They are native to East Asia but are also popular as an aquarium fish and introduced else ...
(''Misgurnus anguillicaudatus'').
Adult weatherfish live in dense patches of aquatic vegetation while juveniles prefer to live near the shoreline in very shallow water where there is a lot of
detritus; neither adults nor juveniles are found in open areas without vegetation. Because of their habitat preferences,
dredging and aquatic weed removal poses a danger to weatherfish populations.
The weatherfish is listed as
least concern
A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. T ...
but is protected in most of its range. They are able to survive in habitats that many other fish would be unable to because of their ability to breathe atmospheric oxygen. In low oxygen conditions, the weatherfish will swim to the surface and gulp air. The air then goes through the intestines where a complex system of blood vessels extracts the oxygen, before expelling the air from the anus.
References
Misgurnus
Freshwater fish of Europe
Fish described in 1758
Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus
Taxonomy articles created by Polbot
{{Cobitidae-stub