Kingdom Animalia Order Cypriniformes Genus Luciobarbus (disputed) Higher classification Barbus | Phylum Chordata Family Cyprinidae Scientific name Luciobarbus sclateri Rank Species | |
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Similar Barbus, Luciobarbus microcephalus, Iberian barbel, Luciobarbus, Luciobarbus bocagei | ||
The Andalusian barbel or gypsy barbel (Luciobarbus sclateri) is a freshwater fish species in the family Cyprinidae. It is here placed in Luciobarbus following the IUCN, but that genus is very closely related to the other typical barbels and perhaps better considered a mere subgenus of Barbus. The Andalusian barbel was formerly included in L. bocagei as subspecies.
L. sclateri is endemic to the southern part Iberian Peninsula, where it occurs in both Portugal and Spain. It inhabits the middle and lower parts of rivers, between the Segura's and the Mira Rivers' drainage basins. It is not very particular as regards its habitat choice, and will utilise anything except small cool torrential mountain streams. They spawn at the beginning of summer, between May and June. The males reach sexual maturity at 2 to 4 years of age and around 8 cm (3.1 in), while females only reach maturity in their sixth or seventh year and at 11 to 16 cm (4.3 to 6.3 in) in length. Despite its fairly small size for a barbel, it is a long-lived species, with a maximum age of 18 years having been recorded.
The Andalusian barbel is quite abundant and not considered a threatened species by the IUCN, though locally populations may go extinct during summer droughts which isolate and dry up small creeks it inhabits. Habitat fragmentation, which is already affecting the species, is exacerbated by this.