Common percarina (''Percarina demidoffii'') is a species of fish in the family Percidae. It is found in northwestern Black Sea basin in estuaries and coastal lakes, and in the lower reaches of the rivers that drain into that part of the Black Sea. It is a carnivorous species.

Description

The common percarina is distinguished from its congener '' P. maeotica'' by having no scales on its cheek, by having nearly transparent membranes on the body and fins, the upper body is milky white in colour with no spots. It also has 8-9 round or irregular markings on the base of both dorsal fins. The dorsal fins are clearly separate in both species of ''

Percarina ''Percarina'' is a genus of ray-finned fish in the family Percidae found in eastern Europe. The genus is the only taxon in the Monotypy, monotypic subfamily Percarininae, which is characterised by having the first dorsal fin, having 9-11 spines a ...

and in this species the first dorsal fin contains 9-10 spines while the second dorsal fin contains 3 spines and 10-12 soft rays. 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 ...

has 2 spines and 8-11 soft rays. this species has a maximum published

standard 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 m ...

of .

Distribution

The common percarina is found in eastern Europe in the northwestern Black Sea where it occurs in estuaries and coastal lagoons and in the lower reaches of the Danube, Dniester,

Southern Bug , ''Pivdennyi Buh'' , name_etymology = , image = Sunset S Bug Vinnitsa 2007 G1.jpg , image_size = 270 , image_caption = Southern Bug River in the vicinity of Vinnytsia, Ukraine , map = PietinisBug ...

and Dnieper. The 2016 discovery of the common percarina in the Zaporizske Reservoir in the Ukraine advances its known distribution upstream on the Dnieper River and extends its current range. It also shows that this species is able to adapt to a fully freshwater environment. The common percarina has been recorded from the Ukraine, Moldova and Romania.

Habitat and biology

The common percarina is considered to be a freshwater species which can easily adapt to brackish or saline environments. It is a schooling species which is both demeral and pelagic being normally found near the bottom but can also been found in the water column. It is commonest at depths of around where the substrate is made up of black mud. It has been recorded in mixed shoals with the

Black Sea sprat The Black Sea sprat, ''Clupeonella cultriventris'', is a small fish of the herring family, Clupeidae. It is found in the Black Sea and Sea of Azov and rivers of its basins: Danube, Dnister, Dnipro (Ukraine), Southern Bug, Don, Kuban. It ha ...

(''Clupeonella cultriventris''). It is a predatory species and its diet includes the eggs of fishes, juvenile fishes of species such as sprats,

silverside Silverside may refer to: * Silverside (beef), a cut of beef * Silverside (fish), the Atheriniformes, an order of fish * Agnes Silverside (died 1557), one of the Colchester Martyrs * USS ''Silversides'', the name of 2 U.S. Navy submarines * Silver ...

s and gobies, zooplankton, small crustaceans, polychaete worms and insect larvae. They have been known to eat

phytoplankton Phytoplankton () are the autotrophic (self-feeding) components of the plankton community and a key part of ocean and freshwater ecosystems. The name comes from the Greek words (), meaning 'plant', and (), meaning 'wanderer' or 'drifter'. Ph ...

too. It spawns in coastal waters around the mouths of rivers where there is a muddy bottom and this takes place in May and June.

Taxonomy

The common percarina was first formally described in 1840 by the Finnish

biologist A biologist is a scientist who conducts research in biology. Biologists are interested in studying life on Earth, whether it is an individual cell, a multicellular organism, or a community of interacting populations. They usually specialize in ...

Alexander von Nordmann (1803-1866) with the

type locality Type locality may refer to: * Type locality (biology) * Type locality (geology) See also * Local (disambiguation) * Locality (disambiguation) {{disambiguation ...

given as the Dniester river, in the vicinity of the town of " Akkerman". The

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

honours Anatole de Demidoff (1813-1817).

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q906941 Percarina Fish of Europe Fish of the Black Sea Fish described in 1840 Taxa named by Alexander von Nordmann Taxonomy articles created by Polbot