Fish diversity in freshwater and brackish water ecosystems of Russia and adjacent waters

In the present paper, the history of fish faunistic and taxonomic knowledge is analyzed, and the freshwater and brackish water fish diversity in the territory of the Russian Federation and adjacent areas is examined. An overview of higher taxa and species is presented (3 classes, 26 orders, 100 families, and 317 genera), including a total of 719 native fish species (plus 36 introduced species, and also 16 species not yet recoded for Russian waters, but expected in the future, and 20 species that were previously removed from the ichthyofauna of Russia due to taxonomic changes; total number in all categories 791 taxa). The Russian water includes freshwater 353, brackish 329, diadromous 82, and amphidromous 27 species. A total of 103 endemic species in the native ichthyofauna adds to an endemism rate of 14, 3%. This study significantly increases the total number of fishes ecologically related to fresh and brackish waters of Russia. The native freshwater and brackish water ichthyofauna of the Russian Federation consists of approximately 4% of the global fish species. The fish diversity in selected river systems and lakes is also discussed, with respect to ecoregions, latitude and longitude, and compared with the fish faunas of Europe and North America (north of 50o N).