The Caspian roach (''Rutilus caspicus'') is a
species
In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriat ...
of
roach
Roach may refer to:
Animals
* Cockroach, various insect species of the order Blattodea
* Common roach (''Rutilus rutilus''), a fresh and brackish water fish of the family Cyprinidae
** ''Rutilus'' or roaches, a genus of fishes
* California roa ...
fish living 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 A ...
. The Caspian roach can be distinguished from other roaches by its laterally compressed body, silvery grey iris, rounded snout and grey pectoral pelvic and anal fins with dark margins. The Caspian roach is semi-
anadromous
Fish migration is mass relocation by fish from one area or body of water to another. Many types of fish migrate on a regular basis, on time scales ranging from daily to annually or longer, and over distances ranging from a few metres to thousa ...
and inhabits mostly shallow coastal waters.
It enters
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 catch ...
,
Ural,
Emba,
Terek and
Kura
Rúben de Almeida Barbeiro (born August 21, 1987 in Leiria), better known as KURA, is a Portuguese electro house music DJ and producer. Kura has released tracks through labels such as Hardwell's Revealed Recordings, Flashover Recordings, M ...
drainages for
spawning
Spawn is the eggs and sperm released or deposited into water by aquatic animals. As a verb, ''to spawn'' refers to the process of releasing the eggs and sperm, and the act of both sexes is called spawning. Most aquatic animals, except for aquat ...
.
Newer research however suggests that ''R. caspicus'' is part of a more widely distributed species or
roach
Roach may refer to:
Animals
* Cockroach, various insect species of the order Blattodea
* Common roach (''Rutilus rutilus''), a fresh and brackish water fish of the family Cyprinidae
** ''Rutilus'' or roaches, a genus of fishes
* California roa ...
, whose range extends to Siberia. The proper name of that species is ''Rutilus lacustris''.
[Levin, B.A., Simonov, E.P., Ermakov, O.A., Levina, M.A., Interesova, E.A., Kovalchuk, O.M., Malinina, Y.A., Mamilov, N.S., Mustafayev, N.J., Pilin, D.V., Pozdeev, I.V., Prostakov, N.I., Roubenyan, H.R., Titov, S.V. & Vekhov, D.A. (2017)]
Phylogeny and phylogeography of the roaches, genus ''Rutilus'' (Cyprinidae), at the Eastern part of its range as inferred from mtDNA analysis.
''Hydrobiologia'', 788: 33–46.
Description
The Caspian roach has a typical size of 30–35 cm (maximum published 45 cm) and a weight of 800 g (maximum published 2000 g). It can be distinguished from its congeners in the Caspian Sea by these characteristics:
* usually 42-44 scales along the lateral line
* dorsal fin usually with 9½ branched rays
* anal fin usually with 10½ branched rays
* rounded snout and subterminal mouth
* anal fins and pectoral pelvic are grey with dark margins
Distribution
The vobla is found in brackish coastal waters of the northern and northwestern Caspian Sea, and enters
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 catch ...
,
Ural,
Emba,
Terek, and
Kura
Rúben de Almeida Barbeiro (born August 21, 1987 in Leiria), better known as KURA, is a Portuguese electro house music DJ and producer. Kura has released tracks through labels such as Hardwell's Revealed Recordings, Flashover Recordings, M ...
drainages for spawning. There it is locally known as ''vobla''.
As food
Salt-dried ''vobla'' is generally eaten without
sauce
In cooking, a sauce is a liquid, cream, or semi-solid food, served on or used in preparing other foods. Most sauces are not normally consumed by themselves; they add flavor, moisture, and visual appeal to a dish. ''Sauce'' is a French wor ...
s or
side dishes. Many people like to eat their vobla with a glass of beer, which lessens the salty taste of the fish.
Vobla could be considered a raw fish, but, in fact, it is neither raw nor cooked, but rather salt-cured. It is soaked in brine for some days and then is thoroughly air-dried for another two, which in the end denatures the protein, as a form of chemical "cooking".
File:Wobla 3.JPG, Salt-dried vobla
References
External links
''Rutilus rutilus caspicus'' (Jakowlew, 1870)www.caspianenvironment.org
See also
*
List of dried foods
This is a list of dried foods. Food drying is a method of food preservation that works by removing water from the food, which inhibits the growth of bacteria and has been practiced worldwide since ancient times to preserve food. Where or when d ...
{{Dried fish
Rutilus
Fish of the Caspian Sea
Taxa named by Vasily Evgrafovich Yakovlev