Thymallus
Arctic grayling ( Thymallus arcticus )
The grayling ( Thymallus - referring to the characteristic, thyme -like odor ) are the only genus in the subfamily Thymallinae within the salmon fish. Their range extends across Europe, Siberia, Mongolia, and North America. The freshwater inhabitants are in cold lakes and rivers at home. They feed mainly on benthic invertebrates, insect larvae and approach food, especially older specimens prey on small fish.
Features
The spindle-shaped body of the grayling is moderately elongated and laterally slightly flattened. The relatively small head with a small and usually slightly under constant mouth opening, which is below the maximum under the eyes leading edge. Note the forward pointed pupils, increase the angle of overlap of the two visual fields, and thus the range of binocular vision. The most salient and stronger with age, predominant feature is the large, flag-like dorsal fin. Like almost all trout fish also carry the members of this genus an adipose fin. The homocerke caudal fin is deeply forked, the pectoral fins set just behind the gill cover to the edge. The pelvic fins are in the rear fuselage area, their approach is behind the dorsal fin. In contrast to the other members of her family the entire trunk and caudal peduncle cycloid scales covering the grayling are relatively large.
System
The systematics of the grayling is not fully understood and was subject to frequent changes in the past. FishBase identifies 14 species and subspecies:
- Arctic grayling ( Thymallus arcticus ) ( Pallas, 1776)
- Thymallusarcticus baicalensis ( Dybowski, 1874)
- Thymallus brevipinnis Svetovidov, 1931
- Thymallus brevirostris Kessler, 1879
- Thymallus burejensis Antonov, 2004
- Thymallus grubii grubii Dybowski, 1869
- Thymallus mertensii Valenciennes, 1848
- Thymallus nigrescens Dorogostaisky, 1923
- Thymallus pallasii Valenciennes, 1848
- European grayling ( Thymallus thymallus ) (Linnaeus, 1758)
- Thymallus yaluensis Mori, 1928