Troglocobitis starostini
(Parin 1983)

ORDER | SUB-ORDER | FAMILY |
---|---|---|
Cypriniformes | Cobitoidei | Nemacheilidae |
Synonyms
Noemacheilus starostini Parin 1983
Nemacheilus starostini Parin 1983
Generic name misspelt Nemachilus by Pereladov (1989).
Country
TurkmenistanTypes
Holotype: ZISP 46159 49.5mm SL. Paratypes: ZISP 46160 3 specimens 36.7mm, 43.6mm, and 47.6mm SL. ZISP (no reference number) 44.2mm SL. ZMMU P16030 and P16031 56.8mm and 61.0mm SL. This species is the type species by monotypy of the subgenus Troglocobitis.
Distribution
Known only from the type locality: Provull gypsum Cave, 45 km from the railway station at Tcharchanga and 60 km from the town of Gaourdak, in the mountainous area of Kugitangtau, Turkmenistan (c.40oN, 60oE). Despite a search of other similar sites in the same area Smirnov (1983) did not find any other locations for this species. Provull Cave is about 5 km SW of the Cupp-Coutunn Cave in a gypsum karst.
Habitat
Collected "in a karst collapse which opened in a region of subterraneous water flow” (Parin 1983), December water temperature 24oC (Smirnov 1983). The animals live in a lake within a gypsum cave and feed on a bacterial film on the surface of organic silt and/or on insect larvae and small Crustacea. This area is under the roosts of birds and bats. The fishes move about within the lake from depths of 4-5m down to at least 58m (Pereladov 1989). In May the water temperature was 19-20oC and the females were full of ripe eggs.
Systematics
Sufficiently distinct to merit erection of the subgenus Troglocobitis to contain it. Nalbant and Linares (1987) placed this species in the genus Paracobitis (retaining the subgenus Troglocobitis) but without giving their reasons. This was followed in the review paper of Decu et al. (2019). Eschmeyer's Catalogue of Fishes (Fricke et al. 2019) and the authoritative summary of world Cobitoidei (Kottelat 2012) both retain Troglocobitis and this is followed here.
According to the detailed phylogenetic study of Prokofiev (2010) Troglocobitis is sister genus to Paracobitis and both of these together are sister to Iskandaria Prokofiev 2009. All three genera are inluded in the tribe Nemacheilini within the subfamily Nemacheilinae.
Although the formal description of the species was published by Parin (1983) the name is available from Parin and Dolzhanskij (1982).
Biological Notes
The food supply in the cave might result from chemoautotrophic production as well as imported from outside.
Conservation Status
MG TLO [VU D2:2.3:2000]
(Birstein, V. 2000. Nemacheilus starostini. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2000: http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2000.RLTS.T39461A10239767.en. Downloaded on 14 July 2017). R (IUCN 1990), R (IUCN 1993), DD (IUCN 1996).
As long ago as 1996 Maltsev (1996) reported the following: "The Provull cave, residence of the troglobitic loach (a unique troglobitic fish), is polluted. In spite of all the efforts for its conservation, declared by the Turkmenistan government, a new sheep farm was located nearby, and this spring several tons of sheep feces were moved by a mudflow into the entrance. It’s still unknown whether the blind loaches survived after it." So the current conservation status may be considerably worse than VU D2.
Museum Holdings
Four other specimens in addition to the type series, probably at IOAS.
Internet Resources
Key References
- Parin, N.V. and Dolzhanskij, V.Y (1982)
- Parin, N.V. (1983)
- Smirnov, S. (1983)
- Pereladov, M. (1989)
- Zalesskaja, N.T. (1989)
- Zalesskaya, N.T. and Golovatch, S.I. (1989)
- Maltsev, V.A. and Self, C.A. (1992)
- Maltsev, V.A. (1996)
- Salnikov, V.B. (2006)
- Kolvoort, I. and Kolvoort, W. (2008)
- Prokofiev, A.M. (2009)
- Prokofiev, A.M. (2010)
- Kottelat, M. (2012)
- Decu, V., Juberthie, C., Iepure, S., Gheorghiu, V. and Nazareanu, G. (2019)
Parin, N.V. and Dolzhanskij, V.Y | Journal Article | 1982 | Noemacheilus starostini, the first blind cave fish for the fauna of the USSR |
Parin, N.V. | Journal Article | 1983 | Noemacheilus (troglocobitis) starostini sp. n. (Osteichthyes,Cobitidae) Novaya slepay a ryba iz podzemnykh vod Kuritangtau (Turkmeniya) [Noemacheilus (Troglocobitis) starostini sp. n. (Osteichthyes, Cobitidae) a new blind fish from subterranean waters of |
Smirnov, S. | Journal Article | 1983 | A blind cave loach from south-western Asia, Noemacheilus starostini Parin |
Pereladov, M. | Journal Article | 1989 | Some aspects of disrtibution of fishes in the subaquatic caves near Kugitang-Tau Mountains |
Zalesskaja, N.T. | Journal Article | 1989 | On the progres in Soviet biospeleology in the 1980s |
Zalesskaya, N.T. and Golovatch, S.I. | Book Section | 1989 | The condition of biospeleology in the USSR |
Maltsev, V.A. and Self, C.A. | Journal Article | 1992 | Cupp-Coutunn cave system, Turkmenia, Central Asia |
Maltsev, V.A. | Journal Article | 1996 | News in the Kugitangtou caves exploration |
Salnikov, V.B. | Book Section | 2006 | Ichthyofauna of the Kugitang reservoirs |
Kolvoort, I. and Kolvoort, W. | Journal Article | 2008 | Blindganger in de onderwaterwerelo |
Prokofiev, A.M. | Journal Article | 2009 | Problems of the classification and phylogeny of nemacheiline loaches of the group lacking the preethmoid I (Cypriniformes: Balitoridae: Nemacheilinae) |
Prokofiev, A.M. | Journal Article | 2010 | Morphological classification of loaches (Nemacheilinae) |
Kottelat, M. | Journal Article | 2012 | Conspectus cobitidum: An inventory of the loaches of the world (Teleostei: Cypriniformes: Cobitoidei) |
Decu, V., Juberthie, C., Iepure, S., Gheorghiu, V. and Nazareanu, G. | Journal Article | 2019 | An overview on the subterranean fauna from central Asia |