Skip to content
Cabañeros National Park
ES
Cabañeros
The Estena river among riverside vegetation, at the Boquerón

Fish

Iberian Arched-mouth Nase

Iberochondrostoma lemmingii

Cover photo: the Estena river at the Boquerón, where it lives. We have not found any free photo of this species.

Characteristics of the Iberian Arched-mouth Nase

Order
Cypriniformes
Family
Leuciscidae
Species
Iberochondrostoma lemmingii
Length (does not exceed)
15 cm
Activity
In slow-flowing stretches
Diet
Algae and zooplankton
Social life
Gregarious

Conservation status

Spain
Vulnerable (Red Data Book)
Castilla-La Mancha
Of special interest

When to see it

Fish · in Cabañeros

In the Estena river, according to the park guide.

Identification of the Iberian Arched-mouth Nase

It is a small fish, no more than 15 centimetres, very like the bermejuela, from which it is told apart by its smaller scales. In older texts it appears as Rutilus lemmingii or Chondrostoma lemmingii.

Habitat and distribution of the Iberian Arched-mouth Nase

Endemic to the peninsula: the Tagus, Guadiana, Guadalquivir and Odiel basins, and part of the Duero. It lives in middle and lower stretches with abundant submerged vegetation and slow current.

Breeding of the Iberian Arched-mouth Nase

In the Duero population it breeds between April and May; there are few data on the others.

Diet of the Iberian Arched-mouth Nase

It eats algae and zooplankton.

The Iberian Arched-mouth Nase in Cabañeros

The guide cites it among the native fish of the Estena. The website adds that it is adapted to Mediterranean rivers with a strong summer low-water period and shares its habitat with the chub and the spined loach.

Can it be seen in Cabañeros?

It is small and hard to tell from the bank. Remember that swimming is not allowed in the rivers of the park.

It lives in the Estena, a River Nature Reserve, where for more than twenty years the park has been carrying out electrofishing to remove invasive fish such as the bleak, the pumpkinseed and the largemouth bass (newsletters of September–October 2023 and 2024, all the newsletters).

Other fish of Cabañeros

Bibliography