Schmidt's Dace - Kyrgyzstan

Leuciscus schmidti - The Schmidt's dace is a member of the Cyprinidae family, more commonly referred to as the carp or minnow family.  It is the largest of the fish families and contains over 2,400 species. The Schmidt’s dace has an average length of 27 centimeters and is limited to Kyrgyzstan’s Lake Issyk-kul. It feeds mainly on insect larvae, insects, and filamentous algae. Lake Issyk-kul is the 10th largest lake in the world by volume and the 2nd largest saline lake after the Caspian Sea.

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Most of present day Kyrgyzstan was added to Tsarist Russia through a treaty negotiated in 1868 between Russia and China’s Qing Dynasty. Kyrgyzstan was officially incorporated into the Russian Empire in 1876. The Russian takeover and attempts to enlist the local population into the military resulted in many Kyrgyz migrating to either Afghanistan or China. With the demise of the Soviet Union, Kyrgyzstan became the first of the Central Asian republics to declare itself independent.

Deniz Carp - Turkey

Çatalhöyük, located in the southern Anatolia region of Turkey, was one of the largest settlements of the 7th millennium BC. The site covered 12.8 hectares and is the best preserved Neolithic site ever found. Lacking streets to the individual houses, access was gained through the use of ladders and by walking across the rooftops.

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Cyprinus carpio yilmaz - The Deniz carp is one of four sub-species of the common carp found along the coast of Turkey. The common carp is native to Asia, but has spread throughout the world aside from the polar regions. It is considered an invasive species in most of the areas where it has been introduced. The carp primarily grubs along the muddy bottom searching for food by inhaling a mouthful of sediment and spitting out what it does not want. This feeding behavior can be disruptive to delicate marine ecosystems.