SANBI

Notes

Africa was previously thought to be represented by a single galaxiid species, the Cape Galaxias Galaxias zebratus (Barnard 1943, Skelton 2001). The Cape Galaxias was considered to be a widespread and morphologically variable species, with a distribution range extending from the Gamtoos River System in the eastern Cape Fold Ecoregion (CFE) to the Verlorenvlei River System on the west coast of South Africa (Waters and Cambray 1995, Skelton 2001), making it the second most widely distributed freshwater fish species in the CFE. The use of molecular markers to assess the level of genetic diversity within Galaxias zebratus uncovered several strongly diverged lineages within this species, indicating that the diversity of galaxiid fishes in Africa had been vastly underestimated (Chakona et al. 2013, Waters and Cambray 1997, Wishart et al. 2006). Fine scale geographic surveys conducted between 2000 and 2010 generated comprehensive data that allowed more accurate mapping of the distribution ranges of G. zebratus lineages across the CFE (Chakona et al. in preparation, Chakona et al. 2013). Preliminary results from the ongoing taxonomic revision of G. zebratus indicate that many of these newly identified lineages constitute novel species (Chakona et al. in preparation). These lineages will therefore be assessed separately. This assessment is based only on a lineage which is only known from the Uilkraals River System (hereafter Galaxias sp. ‘zebratus Slender’, see Chakona et al. 2013). The other lineages of the Galaxias zebratus complex are excluded from this assessment.

habitat_narrative

Freshwater (=Inland waters)

This lineage was collected from static small pools with abundant macrophytes. The bottom substratum was predominantly mud and silt.

Red List of South African Species

Notes

habitat_narrative

Not much information here?