List of freshwater fish of Japan explained

This list of freshwater fish recorded in Japan is primarily based on the IUCN Red List, which, for fish found in inland waters, details the conservation status of some two hundred and sixty-one species, seventy-three of them endemic.[1] Of these, one is assessed as extinct in the wild (the endemic Black kokanee), seven as critically endangered (the Sakhalin sturgeon, Chinese sturgeon, Sakhalin taimen, and endemic Tango stripe spined loach, Kissing loach, Cave goby, and Urauchi-isohaze), twenty as endangered, twelve as vulnerable, ten as near threatened, one hundred and seventy-nine as of least concern, and thirty-two as data deficient.[1] This total includes species such as the Immaculate puffer, which, according to the IUCN Red List, may be characterized as a "marine species which occurs in estuaries...but is not dependent on these systems".[2]

According to statistics accompanying the 2020 Japanese Ministry of the Environment (MoE) Red List, and the 2014 Red Data Book, approximately four hundred species and subspecies of freshwater fish and brackish water fish are to be found, but the conservation status of only two hundred and forty-five is detailed.[3] [4] [5] Of these, three taxa are extinct from a domestic perspective (the Green sturgeon, Short ninespine stickleback, and endemic Suwa gudgeon), one extinct in the wild (the endemic Black kokanee), seventy-one critically endangered, fifty-four endangered, forty-four vulnerable, thirty-five near threatened, and thirty-seven data deficient.[3] [4] As of January 2021, for their protection, ten species and subspecies have been designated National Endangered Species by Cabinet Order in accordance with the 1992 Act on Conservation of Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.[6]

A 2017 study, drawing on the 2013 edition of, edited by, and the 2001 edition of, edited by, and including only those that "largely spend their lives in freshwater or diadromous fishes that reproduce in freshwater", but excluding those of the Ryūkyū Islands, lists some one hundred and eighty-one taxa, thirty-one of which, though they may have an established Japanese name and be written about at some length, are yet to be formally described, and as yet have no scientific binomial or trinomial.[7] As for the inland water fishes of the Ryūkyūs, a 2014 checklist detailed some 678 species, in 110 families, and 27 orders, but of these, 334 are primarily marine species "but accidentally migrate to inland waters", with a further 229 estuarine species (143 residential, 86 peripheral), 59 species being fluvial, and 56 diadromous.[8] In addition, it is noted that most of the fluvial species on Okinawa Island are alien.[8] A 1998 study, drawing on earlier editions of the above works by Nakabo and Kawanabe, lists 211 taxa nationwide, in 35 families, and 15 orders, comprising 134 fluvial and lacustrine fishes (63%) and 77 diadromous fishes (37%), including 88 endemics (41%) and 23 exotics (11%).[9]

As of the 7 July 2021 update, Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes returns three hundred and forty species records for freshwater fishes of Japan, excluding synonyms unless valid as a subspecies, and four hundred and thirty-two brackish water fishes, one hundred and ninety-two records representing those found in both systems, one hundred and fifty-six of which are also found in marine environments.[10]

Other than the lampreys with which the list begins, which are jawless fish, all orders are within the clade Actinopterygii, ray-finned fishes.

Japanese names

Incorporating new species described and other taxonomic changes since the 2013 third edition of, edited by, of the Kagoshima University Museum published in 2020, subtitled "Current standard Japanese and scientific names of all fish species recorded from Japanese waters"; regular open access updates are published, that of July 2021 detailing some 4,611 species.[12] [13]

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: IUCN Red List>Advanced Search>Taxonomy: (Actinopterygii + Cephalaspidomorphi + Chondrichthyes + Myxini) - Land Regions: Japan - Systems: Freshwater (=Inland waters) . . 29 July 2021.
  2. Web site: Immaculate Puffer . . 30 July 2021.
  3. Web site: http://www.env.go.jp/press/113666.pdf . ja:環境省レッドリスト2020掲載種数表 . Ministry of the Environment Red List 2020: Table of Number of Species Listed . Japanese . . 29 July 2021.
  4. Web site: https://www.env.go.jp/press/files/jp/114457.pdf . ja:環境省レッドリスト2020 . Ministry of the Environment Red List 2020 . Japanese . . 29 July 2021.
  5. Book: ja:レッドデータブック 2014 Vol. 4 汽水・淡水魚類 . Threatened Wildlife of Japan Red Data Book 2014: Pisces — Brackish and Fresh Water Fishes . Japanese . . Gyōsei Corporation . 2014 . 978-4-324-09898-1.
  6. Web site: https://www.env.go.jp/nature/kisho/domestic/list.html . ja:国内希少野生動植物種一覧 . List of National Endangered Species . Japanese . . 4 January 2021 . 29 July 2021.
  7. Book: Japanese Freshwater Fishes: Biogeography and Cryptic Diversity . Watanabe, Katsutoshi . Tominaga, Koji . Nakajima, Jun . Kakioka, Ryo . Tabata, Ryoichi . Species Diversity of Animals in Japan . Motokawa, Masaharu . Kajihara, Hiroshi . . 2017 . 10.1007/978-4-431-56432-4_7 . 978-4-431-56432-4 . 183–227.
  8. http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12000/38625 . ja:琉球列島産陸水性魚類相および文献目録 . Inland Water Fishes from the Ryukyus . Japanese . Yoshigō Hidenori 吉郷英範 . Fauna Ryukyuana . . 2014 . 9 . 1–153.
  9. Book: Distribution of the freshwater fishes of Japan: an historical overview . Yuma, Masahide . Nagata, Yoshikazu . Fish biology in Japan: an anthology in honour of Hiroya Kawanabe. Developments in environmental biology of fishes, vol. 18 . Yuma, Masahide . Nakamura, Izumi . Fausch, Kurt D. . . 1998 . 978-94-015-9016-7 . 10.1007/978-94-015-9016-7_6 . 97–124.
  10. Web site: Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes . . . 7 July 2021 . 31 July 2021.
  11. Web site: Invasive Species of Japan: Fishes . . 29 July 2021.
  12. Web site: https://www.museum.kagoshima-u.ac.jp/staff/motomura/jaf.html . ja:日本産魚類全種リスト . List of Japan's All Fish Species . Japanese . . 18 July 2021 . 29 July 2021.
  13. Web site: https://www.museum.kagoshima-u.ac.jp/staff/motomura/jaf.html . ja:日本産魚類の追加種リスト(更新日2021/07/21 4,554種+57種) . List of Japan's All Fish Species: Updated . Japanese . . 21 July 2021 . 29 July 2021.