Largemouth yellowfish
| Largemouth yellowfish | |
|---|---|
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| Photo of the official South African Largemouth yellowfish open record of 22.2 Kg, that caught in Vaaldam during an angling club competition. | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Cypriniformes |
| Family: | Cyprinidae |
| Genus: | Labeobarbus |
| Species: | L. kimberleyensis |
| Binomial name | |
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Labeobarbus kimberleyensis (Gilchrist & W. W. Thompson, 1913) |
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| Synonyms | |
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Barbus kimberleyensis Gilchrist & Thompson, 1913 |
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Barbus kimberleyensis Gilchrist & Thompson, 1913
The largemouth yellowfish or Vaal-Orange largemouth yellowfish (Labeobarbus kimberleyensis) is a ray-finned fish species in the family Cyprinidae. This large freshwater barb is found in southern Africa.
It has long been placed in Barbus, the "wastebin genus" for barbs, by default; however, the species is increasingly being restored to related yellowfish genus Labeobarbus which seems a much more appropriate placement. It is probably hexaploid like the other yellowfish. L. kimberleyensis shares mtDNA haplotypes with the sympatric smallmouth yellowfish (L. aeneus), but is morphologically distinct. This typically indicates either species that have recently diverged, or hybrid introgression, or morphs that are mistakenly considered distinct species. The latter does not seem likely in this case, as the two differ much in size alone, but the actual cause for the genetic similarity remains unstudied.
The largemouth yellowfish occurs in the Orange and Vaal Rivers and their larger tributaries (e.g. the Riet River) in Lesotho, Namibia and South Africa. In the latter country, it is found in Eastern Cape Province, Free State, Gauteng, Mpumalanga, North-West Province and Northern Cape Province.
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