Barbatula toni (Dybowski, 1869)

(Fig. 7–9)

Cobitis toni Dybowski, 1869: 957 (Mongolia: Onon and Ingoda Rivers, Heilongjiang/Amur drainage).

Material examined. HU 1608550–52, 1608554, 1608497–98, 6, 71.5–80.3 mm SL; FSJF 4043, 1, 76.3 mm SL; China: Inner Mongolia: Hailar River 5 km south of Chenbarhu banner, upper Heilongjiang River drainage, 49°29′N 119°46′E (24). — HU1608484, 1608492, 1608495, 3, 49.8–61.3 mm SL; China: Heilongjiang prov.: Songhua River west of Harbin, lower Heilongjiang River drainage, 45°74′N 126°47′E (23); Hao Chen, Apr. 2017. — HU1608438, 1, 58.6 mm SL; China: Heilongjiang prov.: Huma River east of Tahe, upper Heilongjiang River drainage, 52°32′N 124°71′E (25); Yongxia Chen, May 2017. — HU1608907, 1608910, 1608913, 1609468, 4, 61.1–71.2 mm SL; China: Inner Mongolia: Yin River 5 km north-east of Chutoulangzhen, upper Liao River drainage, 42°34′N 118°72′E (6); Hao Chen, May 2017. — IHB 58 vii0180, 58vii 0086, 58vii 0183, 58vii 0085, 58vii 0586, 5, 60.5–68.1 mm SL; China: Heilongjiang prov.: Ergun River upper Heilongjiang River drainage (26). — IHB 58 v0057–76, 20, 41.0–71.0 mm SL; China: Heilongjiang prov.: Emur River at Mohe, upper Heilongjiang River drainage (27). — IHB 76 ix9743–48, 76ix 9751–57, 13, 52.1–72.2 mm SL; China: Inner Mongolia; Xilin River at Xilin Gol (8).

Material used in the molecular genetic analysis. HU1608484; China: Heilongjiang prov.: Songhua River west of Harbin City, lower Heilongjiang River drainage, 45°74′N 126°47′E (23). (GenBank accession number: KY451914). — FSJF 4043; China: Inner Mongolia: Hailar River, upper Heilongjiang River drainage, 49°29′N 119°46′E (24). (GenBank accession number: KY451916). — HU1608910; China: Inner Mongolia: Yin River northeast of Chutoulangzhen, upper Liao River drainage, 42°34′N 118°72′E (6). (GenBank accession number: KY451915).

Diagnosis. Barbatula toni is distinguished from the other species of Barbatula in north-eastern China by a combination of characters, none of them unique: upper lip with a shallow median incision, its depth is 10–20% of the width of the upper lip; lower lip with short lateral expansion, its length 30–50% of the width of the upper lip (Fig. 9a); upper jaw completely covered by the upper lip; snout blunt; nostrils widely spaced (Fig. 9b); snout as long as the postorbital head length; dorsal profile convex; 7½ branched dorsal-fin rays; pelvic-fin origin in front of the vertical through the dorsal-fin origin, below the origin of the first dorsal-fin ray; and back and flank completely scaled.

Barbatula toni is distinguished from B. nuda by having the nostrils widely spaced (vs. closely set), a shallow median incision in the upper lip, its depth 10–20% of the width of the upper lip (vs. deep, 40–60%), a short lateral expansion of the lower lip (vs. absent), upper jaw completely covered by the upper lip (vs. partly covered), pelvicfin origin in front of the vertical through the dorsal-fin origin (vs. below) and scales present on complete back and flank (vs. restricted to the back and flank behind the dorsal-fin base).

See Table 3 for the character states shown by the different species of Barbatula found in north-eastern China.

Distribution. Widespread in the Heilongjiang (Amur) River drainage in China, Russia and Mongolia. In China known from the Ergun, Hailar, Songhua, and Huma Rivers in the Heilongjiang drainage as well as from the Yin River, which is a tributary of the Liao River in Inner Mongolia which flow to the Bohai Sea and has its estuary at the Chinese city of Panjin (40°98′N, 121°83′E). See Figure 2 for details.

Remarks. Barbatula toni was described by Dybowski (1869) from the Onon and Ingoda Rivers in the Russian Heilongjiang River drainage. For a long period of time, this was the catch-all name for many Asian Barbatula species. Barbatula pechiliensis, B. toni fowleri, B. kirinensis, and B. gibba were all identified as synonyms of B. toni by earlier authors (Zhu 1989, Cao et al. 2012, Prokofiev 2014). Kottelat (2006) already suspected that B. toni is widely distributed in the upper reaches of the Heilongjiang (Amur) River. We also report B. toni from the Yin River drainage, a small coastal river, and suspect that it might be more widespread.

The morphological character states of B. toni described here are based on the individuals examined for this study and agree well with those described by Prokofiev (2003, 2016a) based on fishes from the Onon River. They are also identical with B. toni from the Onon River shown by Kottelat (2006: 99).