Rhodeus

Life-forms

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Cladus: Unikonta
Cladus: Opisthokonta
Cladus: Holozoa
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Superphylum: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Megaclassis: Osteichthyes
Superclassis/Classis: Actinopterygii
Classis/Subclassis: Actinopteri
Subclassis/Infraclassis: Neopterygii
Infraclassis: Teleostei
Megacohors: Osteoglossocephalai
Supercohors: Clupeocephala
Cohors: Otomorpha
Subcohors: Ostariophysi
Sectio: Otophysa
Ordo: Cypriniformes
Subordo: Cyprinoidei

Familia: Acheilognathidae
Genus: Rhodeus
Species: R. albomarginatus – R. amarus - R. amurensis - R. atremius - R. colchicus - R. cyanorostris – R. fangi - R. haradai - R. laoensis - R. lighti - R. notatus – R. ocellatus - R. pseudosericeus - R. rheinardti - R. sciosemus - R. sericeus - R. shitaiensis – R. sinensis - R. smithii - R. spinalis - R. suigensis - R. uyekii
Name

Rhodeus Agassiz , 1832: 134
Gender: masculine
Type species: Cyprinus amarus Bloch, 1782
Type by monotypy

Synonyms

Pseudoperilampus Bleeker, 1863

References

Agassiz, L. 1832: Untersuchungen über die fossilen Süsswasser-Fische der tertiären Formationen. Neues Jahrbuch für Mineralogie, Geognosie, Geologie und Petrefakten-kunde, 3: 129–138.
Li, F. & Arai, R. 2010: Rhodeus shitaiensis, a new bitterling from China (Teleostei: Cyprinidae). Ichthyological Exploration of Freshwaters, 21 (4): 303–312. Abstract & excerpt
Li, W-J., Qiu, N. & Du, H-J. 2022. Complete mitochondrial genome of Rhodeus cyanorostris (Teleostei, Cyprinidae): characterization and phylogenetic analysis. Zookeys 1081ː 111–125. DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.1081.77043 Open access Reference page.

Vernacular names
català: Rhodeus
Deutsch: Rhodeus
English: Bitterling
français: Rhodeus
日本語: バラタナゴ属
한국어: 납줄개속
lietuvių: Kartuolės
Nederlands: Rhodeus
polski: Rhodeus
русский: Горчаки

Rhodeus is a genus of cyprinid fish, consisting of 23 species called bitterlings. The scientific name is derived from the Greek word rhodeos, meaning "rose". Most species in the genus are restricted to Asia, but two species are found in Europe (R. amarus and R. meridionalis).

Bitterlings are short-lived species, generally surviving only about five years. Their maximum size is 11 cm, but they are usually much shorter. Bitterlings inhabit slow-flowing or still waters, such as ponds, lakes, marshes, muddy and sandy pools, and river backwaters. Because they depend on freshwater mussels to reproduce, their range is restricted. Bitterlings are omnivorous, feeding on both invertebrates and plants.

Bitterlings have a remarkable reproduction strategy where parents transfer responsibility for the care of their young to various species of freshwater mussels (Unionidae and Margaritiferidae). The female extends her long ovipositor into the mantle cavity of the mussel and deposits her eggs between the gill filaments. The male then ejects his sperm into the mussel's inhalent water current and fertilization takes place within the gills of the host. The same female may use a number of mussels, and she deposits only one or two yellow, oval eggs into each. Early developmental stages are protected from predation within the body of the mussel. After 3 to 4 weeks, larvae swim away from the hosts to continue life on their own.

In 1936, the bitterling was thought to respond to hormones in a pregnant woman's urine, but the work was later discredited.[1][2]
Species

This genus and Acheilognathus have a convoluted taxonomic history, one being at times included in the other. They are now considered separate, but some species formerly in Rhodeus are now in Acheilognathus.

There are currently 23 recognized species in this genus:

Rhodeus albomarginatus F. Li & R. Arai, 2014 [3]
Rhodeus amarus Bloch, 1782 (European bitterling)
Rhodeus amurensis Vronsky, 1967
Rhodeus atremius D. S. Jordan & W. F. Thompson, 1914 (Kyushu bitterling)
Rhodeus colchicus Bogutskaya & Komlev, 2001 (Georgian bitterling)
Rhodeus cyanorostris Li, Liao & Ara, 2020[4]
Rhodeus fangi C. P. Miao, 1934
Rhodeus haradai R. Arai, N. Suzuki & S. C. Shen, 1990
Rhodeus laoensis Kottelat, A. Doi & Musikasinthorn, 1998
Rhodeus meridionalis S. L. Karaman, 1924
Rhodeus monguonensis G. L. Li, 1989
Rhodeus ocellatus Kner, 1866 (rosy bitterling)
Rhodeus nigrodorsalis Li, Liao & Ara, 2020[4]
Rhodeus pseudosericeus R. Arai, S. R. Jeon & Ueda, 2001
Rhodeus rheinardti Tirant, 1883
Rhodeus sciosemus D. S. Jordan & W. F. Thompson, 1914
Rhodeus sericeus Pallas, 1776 (Amur bitterling)
Rhodeus shitaiensis F. Li & R. Arai, 2011
Rhodeus sinensis Günther, 1868 (Light's bitterling)
Rhodeus smithii Regan, 1908
Rhodeus spinalis Ōshima, 1926
Rhodeus suigensis T. Mori, 1935
Rhodeus uyekii T. Mori, 1935

References

"Deceptive Bitterling". Time. October 12, 1936. Archived from the original on December 15, 2008. Retrieved 2008-04-16. "Not quite two years ago physicians and prospective parents welcomed the news that a small, carp-like fish could tell whether or not a woman was going to have a baby ... The bitterling lost her standing and the doe rabbit and mouse were reinstated as nature's best indicators of human pregnancy. But obstetricians Kanter and Klawans pursued the matter with another research mate, physiologist Broda Otto Barnes, and secured further results which they detailed in Science last week."
Barnes, B. O.; Kanter, A. E.; Klawans, A. H. (1936). "Bitterling Ovipositor Lengthening Produced By Adrenal Extracts". Science. 84 (2179): 310. doi:10.1126/science.84.2179.310-a. PMID 17837041.
Li, F.; Arai, R. (2014). "Rhodeus albomarginatus, a new bitterling (Teleostei: Cyprinidae: Acheilognathinae) from China". Zootaxa. 3790 (1): 165–176. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3790.1.7. PMID 24869865.

Li, Fan; Liao, Te-Yu; Arai, Ryoichi (2020-03-03). "Two new species of Rhodeus (Teleostei: Cyprinidae: Acheilognathinae) from the River Yangtze, China". Journal of Vertebrate Biology. 69 (1): 1–17. doi:10.25225/jvb.19055. ISSN 2694-7684.