Azov percarina (''Percarina maeotica'') is a species of

ray-finned fish Actinopterygii (; ), members of which are known as ray-finned fishes, is a class of bony fish. They comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species. The ray-finned fishes are so called because their fins are webs of skin supported by bony or hor ...

in the family

Percidae The Percidae are a family of ray-finned fish, part of the order Perciformes, which are found in fresh and brackish waters of the Northern Hemisphere. The majority are Nearctic, but there are also Palearctic species. The family contains more than ...

Description

The Azov percarina is distinguished from the closely related common percarina, ''Percarina demidoffii'', by its unique characteristics of having scaled cheeks, pigmented body back and grey flanks with numerous small dark dots, which may be fused into larger spots along base of the dorsal fins.

Distribution

The Azov percarina is found in the eastern and northeastern parts of the

Sea of Azov The Sea of Azov ( Crimean Tatar: ''Azaq deñizi''; russian: Азовское море, Azovskoye more; uk, Азовське море, Azovs'ke more) is a sea in Eastern Europe connected to the Black Sea by the narrow (about ) Strait of Kerch, ...

, in the

Gulf of Taganrog Taganrog Bay (, uk, Таганрозька затока) is the northeastern arm of the Sea of Azov. It also may be perceived as a flooded estuary of the Don River (Russia), Don River. Geography The bay serves as a natural boundary between the ...

and

Temryuk Bay The Temryuk Bay (russian: Темрюкский залив, ''Temryuksky zaliv'') is a gulf or bay of the Sea of Azov located on the northern coast of the Taman Peninsula, Krasnodar Krai, Russia. It extends roughly 27 km inland and is 60 ...

, Bolshoi Akhtanizovski Liman,

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 Caucas ...

delta, rare in

Don Don, don or DON and variants may refer to: Places *County Donegal, Ireland, Chapman code DON *Don (river), a river in European Russia *Don River (disambiguation), several other rivers with the name *Don, Benin, a town in Benin *Don, Dang, a vill ...

River delta.

Habitat and biology

The Azov percarina is foun in coastal fresh and brackish waters, the maximum salinity they are found in is 7 ppt, and in river mouths. It is a social species which is found in shoals. Smaller fish, with a

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 feed actively on

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 ...

, especially small

crustacean Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean group ...

s, Once they attain a standard length of they switch to feeding on larger crustaceans such as

copepod Copepods (; meaning "oar-feet") are a group of small crustaceans found in nearly every freshwater and saltwater habitat (ecology), habitat. Some species are planktonic (inhabiting sea waters), some are benthos, benthic (living on the ocean floor) ...

s and

mysid Mysida is an order of small, shrimp-like crustaceans in the malacostracan superorder Peracarida. Their common name opossum shrimps stems from the presence of a brood pouch or "marsupium" in females. The fact that the larvae are reared in thi ...

s. From their second year they are largely

piscivorous A piscivore () is a carnivorous animal that eats primarily fish. The name ''piscivore'' is derived . Piscivore is equivalent to the Greek-derived word ichthyophage, both of which mean "fish eater". Fish were the diet of early tetrapod evoluti ...

feeding on '' Knipowitschia longecaudata'' and '' Clupeonella cultriventis'' as well as benthic worms,

mollusc Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is esti ...

s and insect larvae. They reach sexual maturity at a year old. They are known to

spawn Spawn or spawning may refer to: * Spawn (biology), the eggs and sperm of aquatic animals Arts, entertainment, and media * Spawn (character), a fictional character in the comic series of the same name and in the associated franchise ** '' Spawn: Ar ...

in the least saline part of the Gulf of Taganrog during June and July. Immediately following spawning the adults migrate to the open sea. The eggs are released over mud bottom and hatch in 2 days, after which the larvae lie on bottom, moving to the surface after 4 days.

Taxonomy

The Azov percarina was first formally described in 1888 by I.D. Kuznetsov with the type locality given as the northeastern Sea of Azov. It is some times treated as a

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

of the common percarina (''Percarinde demidoffi'') but morphological and habitat differences support its treatment as a valid species. The common percarina has been recorded from the Ukraine, Moldova and Romania.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q140768 Percarina Fish of Europe Fish of Russia Fish of the Black Sea Fish described in 1888