I Ichthyofauna of the Aral Sea – ichthyofauna is made up of the Asian mountain, Ponto-Caspian, Turkenstan, and other fauna complexes. Up until the 1960s, . comprised 20 fish species belonging to 7 families. The most abundant was the carp family | I Ichthyofauna of the Aral Sea - ichthyofauna is made up of the Asian mountain Ponto-Caspian Turkenstan and other fauna complexes. Up until the 1960s . comprised 20 fish species belonging to 7 families. The most abundant was the carp family which included 12 species bream common carp sea roach Chalcalburnus Aral and Turkestan barbell asp white-eye sichel rudd ide and crucian carp . This family made up 60 of the whole ichthyofauna. The next most abundant was of the perch family living in lakes including the pike perch perch ruff the sturgeons bastard sturgeon salmons Aral salmon catfish pikes pike and sticklebacks stickleback were each represented by 1 species. Due to insufficient population newly introduced species had no commercial significance however they influenced the biological regime of the Aral. Among the invaders only the plant-eating fish had some commercial significance. In the 1980s the main commercial fish were bream common carp sea roach pike perch barbell asp Chalcalburnus catfish and others. By the end of 2002 only 2 fish species survived - flatfish and Aterina - and only in the western part of the Large Aral Sea. At present 2008 . has disappeared except for in the Small Aral Sea the main cause of this outcome having been the increasing water salinity. Ide Leuciscus idus. - commercial fish of the carp family Cyprinidae . Its length reached 70 cm and its weight was 6 to 8 kg. In . a subspecies the Turkestan ide was found. This fish usually lived in small plain rivers in lakes and in reservoirs. It reached fertility at the age of 4-6 years when its length was 25 cm and more. Spawning was in April-May in floodplains and at times in bars at water depth m and temperatures of 3-4 C and higher. Fertility was 39-114 thou eggs. It fed on insect larvae small mollusks worms algae and higher vegetation. It was not inclined to long-distance migration Spending winter in rivers in spring it ran to small tributaries and floodplain lakes for .
