Stymphalia Minnow

Pelasgus stymphalicus is a small fish with a maximum standard length of 12 cm (4.7 in).

Pelasgus stymphalicus is endemic to Greece, where it is found in the northern and western Peloponnese. This species, like other members of its genus, prefers slow-moving to near-stagnant water bodies with abundant aquatic vegetation. These are mostly small streams, spring-fed wetlands and oligotrophic lakes, which can be located at altitudes from sea level to upland plateaus. This species can tolerate salinities of 12–13‰, and can enter brackish water for short periods. It is also able to colonise artificial drainage canals. Some populations live in non perennial streams and small rivers, where they spend the dry periods in residual pools or perennial spring-fed stretches.

Pelasgus stymphalicus belongs to the genus Pelasgus. This name is derived from the Pelasgians, the ancient people who lived around the Aegean Sea before the arrival of the Indo-European speaking ancestors of the Greeks in the second millennium B.C.E., and alludes to the fishes in this genus all being found in the Balkans. The specific name, stymphalicus, means "belonging to stymphalis", a reference to the type locality, which is now called Lake Stymphalia, where Heracles killed the stymphalian birds.