186 THE FRESH-WATER FISHES OF EUROPE. 



GENUS: Paraphoxinus (BLEEKER). 



Paraphoxinus is a small genus comprising two species of fishes which 

 are confined to the Adriatic region of the Balkan peninsula. It is distin- 

 guished by having the body free from scales, or covered with scales which are 

 rudimentary and do not overlap. Scales, however, extend along the lateral 

 line, but this line is more or less incomplete. The mouth is terminal. The 

 pharyngeal teeth are in a single row on each side, with the formula 5 4. 

 The other characters are, for the most part, similar to those of the Phoxinus 

 type of the Genus Leuciscus. 



Paraphoxinus alepidotus (HECKEL). 



This remarkable species (Pig. 100) has much the same relation to Leuciscus 

 that Aulopyge has to Barbus, in being free from scales. In the adult the 

 height of the body is equal to the length of the head, but in old females it is 



Fig. 100. VARAPHOXINUS ALEPIDOTUS (HECKEL). 



greater. The thickness of body is not less than half the height, nor more than 

 two-thirds of the height. The back is rounded. The length of the head 

 is less than two-ninths of the length of the fish. In males it is a little shorter. 

 The diameter of the eye is from one-fourth to one-fifth of the length of the 

 head. Its own diameter separates it from the snout, and the frontal inter- 

 space between the eyes is one and a half times the diameter of the eye. The 

 angle of the oblique mouth scarcely reaches back to the anterior nares, which 

 are near to the eye, and rather elevated in position. The jaws are equal, and 

 the lips round. The profile is very like that of the Minnow, but with age the 

 body becomes higher and more compressed. The dorsal fin begins behind the 



