SHORT COMMUNICATIONS Arch. Biol. Sci., Belgrade, 58 (4), 45P-46P, 2006. COMMENTS ON ARTICLE OF SIMIĆ AND ŠORIĆ ABOUT NEW DATA ON ICHTHYOFAUNA OF SERBIA. P. Simonović and S. Marić. Faculty of Biology, University of Belgrade, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia Key words: New data, ichthyofauna, Serbia UDC 597 (497.11) 591.9 (497.11) found in the rest of the Danube River system of Serbia as well, while the Aegean subspecies Gobio uranoscopus stankoi Dimovski & Grupče, 1974 is to be expected in the Pčinja, Lepenac, and Nerodimka Rivers of the Aegean Sea drainage basin. S i m i ć and Š o r i ć (2006) published new data on the ichthyofauna of Serbia, mainly of its southeastern part confined to the Aegean Sea drainage basin that comprises the Dragovištica River with its tributaries and the Pčinja River. They reported finding of the Aegean vimba Vimba melanops in the Pčinja River, a tributary of the Vardar River (Aegean Sea drainage basin); Macedonian trout Salmo macedonicus in the Božica and Lisina Rivers, tributaries of the Struma River (Aegean Sea drainage basin); and Danubian gudgeon Gobio uranoscopus in the Cvetkova and Đerekuša Rivers of the Lake Vlasina and Toplica River drainage areas (Danube River drainage area), respectively. S i m o n o v i ć (2001) considered the poorly investigated ichthyofauna of the Aegean Sea drainage basin in the southeastern and southern parts of Serbia. In addition to predicting the discovery of angora loach Noemachilus angorae Steindachner, 1897 in the Dragovištica, Lisina, Božica, and Brankovačka Rivers (tributaries of the Struma River), S i m i ć and Š o r i ć (2006) stated that: M a r i ć et al. (2004) first report on finding of Salmo macedonicus (Karaman, 1924) (Fig. 2) from the drainage area of Dragovištica River that S i m i ć and Š o r i ć (2006) considered a new record for the ichthyofauna of Serbia. The IUCN threat status lr(cd) that M a r i ć et al. (2004) assigned to them after the estimated absolute abundance of 35475 ± 455 individuals is equivalent to Appendix III of the Berne Convention (Protected Fauna). M a r i ć et al. (2004) also reported finding of brook barbel in the same waters S i m i ć and Š o r i ć (2006) investigated. Brook barbel were identified as eastern brook barbel B. cyclolepis (Fig. 1) and their national threat status was classified as Vulnerable (VU, of the IUCN categories), which is equivalent to the Appendix II of the Berne Convention (Protected Fauna), after an estimation of only 120 mature individuals out of 48000 in 12 km of the Dragovištica River’s stretch in Serbia. – to judge from its reported dispersal area, brook barbel from the Božica and Lisina Rivers could belong to the species Barbus cyclolepis (Heckel, 1814), S i m o n o v i ć et al. (2005) stated that Macedonian trout and the trout Salmo cf. trutta from the Resava River (Morava River drainage area) are quite similar in continuous characters of external morphology, though easily distinguishable on the basis of their coloration, structure, and arrangement of both black and red markings on the back and flanks (Fig. 2). A year – the Aegean vimba Vimba vimba melanops (Heckel, 1841), which is confined to the Aegean Sea drainage basin, can be expected in tributaries of the Vardar River, and – in addition to the drainage area of the Morava River, the nominal subspecies of Gobio uranoscopus Agassiz, 1828 is to be Fig. 1. Eastern barbel Barbus cyclolepis from the Dragovištica River. 45P 46P Fig. 2. (a) Macedonian trout Salmo macedonicus from the Dragovištica River in the Struma River drainage area, with regularly arranged small black markings above the lateral line and strongly occelated large wine-red to violet dots on the flanks; and (b) trout Salmo cf. trutta from the Resava River in the Morava River drainage area, with numerous, moderately large black spots on backs and flanks extending down to the level of the lateral line and moderate, bright-red speckles on the flanks. later, M a r i ć et al. (2006) reported the occurrence of two mtDNA haplotypes (control region) of the Adriatic molecular lineage sensu B e r n a t c h e z (2001) in the Macedonian trout from the drainage area of the Dragovištica River, one of them most likely holding the ancestral position in the whole Adriatic lineage of the trout Salmo spp. References: Bernatchez, L. (2001). Evolution 55, 351-379. - Marić, S., Sušnik, S., Simonović, P. and Snoj, A. (2006). Genetique, Selection, Evolution, 38, 411-430. - Simić, V. and Šorić, V. (2006). Arch. Biol. Sci., 58 (3), 29P-30P. - Marić, S., Hegediš, A., Nikolić, V. and Simonović, P. (2004). Acta Zoologica bulgarica, 56, 213-222. – Simonović, P. (2001). Ribe Srbije. NNK International, Zavod za zaštitu prirode i Biološki fakultet, Beograd. - Simonović, P., Marić, S. and Nikolić, V. (2005). Acta Zoologica bulgarica 57, 341-362.