Review article
STUDY OF Salmo GENUS (PISCES, SALMONIDAE) ON THE BALKAN PENINSULA
2011, 69 (1) p. 11-20
Abstract
Author disputes the position of the authors K o t t e l a t (1997) and K o t t e l a t & F r e y h o f (2007) about the existence of several species belonging to the Salmo genus in some parts of Balkan Peninsula: Salmo aphelios Kottelat, 1997; Salmo balcanicus (Karaman, 1927); Salmo farioides (Karaman, 1938); Salmo labrax Pallas, 1814; Salmo letnica (Karaman, 1924); Salmo lumi Poljakov, Filipi & Basho, 1958; Salmo macedonicus (Karaman, 1924); Salmo montenigrinus (Karaman, 1933); Salmo pelagonicus Karaman, 1938; Salmo peristericus Karaman, 1938; Salmo taleri (Karaman, 1932). Majority of those species were described by dr. Stanko Karaman, the author who is, regarding the number of described species of European freshwater fishes, on the second place, just behind Carl Linnaeus. It is hardly believable that four trout species were formed in a small and oligotrophic microhabitat like Ohrid Lake, or three species in the Vardar River, knowing that the factor of geographic isolation doesn’t exist in either of the habitats. The author’s position is that all of these species are actually just types of one, highly plastic regarding the micro ecological conditions and phenotypic manifestations, species: Salmo trutta (Linnaeus, 1785). The author supports his opinion by his own results, as well the results of other scientists, obtained through studies of ecology and taxonomy of the brown trout in fluent and still water microhabitats. Also the author suggests that it is unacceptable to apply the terminology immanent to the anthropogenic factor in a sphere of another scientific area where such factor doesn\'t exist (agronomy-race and biology-natural selection).