''Zingel zingel'', the zingel, is a species of freshwater

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

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 ...

. It is found in fast-flowing streams in southeastern Europe. It is the type species of the genus ''Zingel''.

Description

''Zinger zingel'' has two separate

dorsal fin A dorsal fin is a fin located on the back of most marine and freshwater vertebrates within various taxa of the animal kingdom. Many species of animals possessing dorsal fins are not particularly closely related to each other, though through conv ...

s with 13–15 spines in the first and 18–20 soft rays in the second. No scales occur on the cheeks. They grow to in length with a maximum length of .

Distribution

''Zingel zingel'' is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to the drainage basins of the

Danube 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 ...

and

Dniestr The Dniester, ; rus, Дне́стр, links=1, Dnéstr, ˈdⁿʲestr; ro, Nistru; grc, Τύρᾱς, Tyrās, ; la, Tyrās, la, Danaster, label=none, ) ( ,) is a transboundary river in Eastern Europe. It runs first through Ukraine and th ...

in south-eastern Europe. They have been recorded from Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Germany, Hungary, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Ukraine.

Habitat and biology

''Zingel zingel'' adults are found in fast-flowing waters in the main course of large rivers. They

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: ...

over sandy bottoms during March and April. Each female mates with several males in dense spawning aggregations. Each female lays about 5,000 adhesive eggs that attach to gravel. Their prey is made up of aquatic insects,

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, fish eggs, and smaller fish. They normally occur at lower altitudes than the streber (''Z. streber'').

Taxonomy

''Zingel zingel'' was first formally described as ''Perca zingel'' in 1766 by Linnaeus with the type locality given as the River Danube in Germany. When

Hippolyte Cloquet Hippolyte Cloquet (10 March 1787 – 3 March 1840) was a French physician and anatomist who was a native of Paris. He was the brother of surgeon Jules Germain Cloquet (1790–1883), and father to Ernest Cloquet (1818–1855), who was a personal ph ...

(1787–1840) created the genus ''

Zingel ''Zingel'' is a genus of fish in the family Percidae. They are long and slender, reaching 12 to 48 cm in length. They are found in rivers and streams in Europe. They feed mainly on aquatic invertebrates such as crustaceans and insect larvae ...

'' he made this species the

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen ...

by absolute

tautonymy A tautonym is a scientific name of a species in which both parts of the name have the same spelling, such as ''Rattus rattus''. The first part of the name is the name of the genus and the second part is referred to as the ''specific epithet'' in ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q204446

zingel ''Zingel'' is a genus of fish in the family Percidae. They are long and slender, reaching 12 to 48 cm in length. They are found in rivers and streams in Europe. They feed mainly on aquatic invertebrates such as crustaceans and insect larvae ...

Freshwater fish of Europe Fish of Europe Fish described in 1766 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus