Talas River Barbel

Talas river barbel is a local name for the Turkestan barbel (Luciobarbus capito; the Syr Darya population is sometimes treated as a separate species, L. conocephalus), a large fish of the carp family once common in the lowland reaches of the Chu and Talas rivers. Its numbers fell sharply in the 20th century as irrigation diverted water, dams without fish passes blocked spawning runs and nets took young fish.^[1] The IUCN lists L. capito as Vulnerable, and the Syr Darya barbel is listed in the Red Data Book of neighboring Kazakhstan. Commercial fishing for it is banned in the ISEZ. Most of the fried fish sold in Talas markets is carp.^[1][2]

References

1. ^ Department of Zoology, Talas State University (2017). Fishes of the Talas, Chu and Naryn Basins. Talas: Talas State University Press, pp. 48–55.
2. ^ Talas Herald (19 August 2021). "The barbel that disappeared from the Talas."