Salmo platycephalus, known as the flathead trout, Ala balik or the Turkish trout, is a type of trout

Trout

Trout is the name for a number of species of freshwater and saltwater fish belonging to the Salmoninae subfamily of the family Salmonidae. Salmon belong to the same family as trout. Most salmon species spend almost all their lives in salt water...

, a fish in the Salmonidae

Salmonidae

Salmonidae is a family of ray-finned fish, the only living family currently placed in the order Salmoniformes. It includes salmon, trout, chars, freshwater whitefishes and graylings...

 family. It is endemic to south-eastern Turkey

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

. It is known only from one population, which occupies three streams, tributaries of the Zamantı River

Zamanti River

Zamantı River is a river in Central Anatolia, Turkey, crossing Kayseri Province in practically its whole course to join Seyhan River further south, of which it is the western, the longest and the most important tributary...

 in the Seyhan River

Seyhan River

The Seyhan River is the longest river in Turkey that is flowing into Mediterranean Sea. The river is 560 km and flows southwest from its headwaters in the Tahtalı-Mountains in Anti-Taurus Mountains to the Mediterranean Sea via a broad delta...

 basin. The population itself is abundant, but subject to threat by habitat loss, since the range is small. Also, predation of juveniles by introduced rainbow trout

Rainbow trout

The rainbow trout is a species of salmonid native to tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in Asia and North America. The steelhead is a sea run rainbow trout usually returning to freshwater to spawn after 2 to 3 years at sea. In other words, rainbow trout and steelhead trout are the same species....

 may cause population decline. The species is classified as critically endangered

Critically endangered

Version 2010.3 of the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species identified 3744 Critically Endangered species, subspecies and varieties, stocks and subpopulations.Critically Endangered by kingdom:*1993 Animalia*2 Fungi*1745 Plantae*4 Protista-References:...

.

Genetic evidence suggests that the flathead trout may indeed be derived from introduced brown trout

Brown trout

The brown trout and the sea trout are fish of the same species....

 (Salmo trutta) and thus not be a distinct species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

of its own. Nevertheless it is a unique form which requires protection.

Literature

• Behnke, R.J. 1968. A new subgenus and species of trout, Salmo (Platysalmo) platycephalus, from south-central Turkey, with comments on the classification of the subfamily Salmoninae. Mitt. Hamburg Zool. Mus. Inst. 66: 1–15.