Rotan was found in Ussuri River and described by B. Dybowski in 1877 (see Synonyms).
The natural distribution range of Р. glenii is situated in the Russian
Far East (Amur Region, Southern Khabarovsk Territory, Primorski Krai, north-west of Sakhalin Region), in
north-eastern China and in the north of Northern Korea (Taranets, 1937; Berg, 1949; Nikolsky, 1956). A large
part of natural distribution range of rotan includes Amur River basin, where rotan inhabits most flood plain
water bodies of this river and its tributaries, among them large tributaries, such as Zeya, Sungari and Ussuri.
In the north distribution range of rotan reaches basin of Tugur River. In the south from the Amur drainage,
rotan is known from rivers of the Sea of Japan including Suifun, Tumen-ula, Liao River, and from the region of
Liushung city (former Port Arthur) (Yakovlev, 1925; Taranetz, 1937; Berg, 1949; Kirpichnikov, 1945; Nikolsky,
1956). In the Sunguri River basin, this "goby" (under that name it was known in Harbin) inhabits every where
preferring, however, stagnant waters or marshes (Jakovlev, 1925). In the upper part of the Sunguri River rotan
is apparently absent. In the west this fish probably does not occur up the Amur River higher than Dzhalinda
(Nikolsky, 1956). Reference of V.N. Elovenko (1981) to the discovery of rotan by B.I. Dybowski (1877) in the
rivers Onon and Ingoda is not correct. Taranetz (1937) indicates occurrence of rotan in the north-west of
Sakhalin, opposite Amur Liman and makes a supposition that historically it had recently crossed the Tatar Strait.
In the literature there is reference to its appearance in sea water
(Soldatov, Lindber, 1930; Karedin, 1966, Dmitriyev, 1971). Elovenko (1981) noted that rotan was not found
in the sea unless after flood. It probably is carried from lakes by flood and does not live long in salt
water. Occurrence of this species in fresh waters of the North-West and Sakhalin Island was recently confirmed
(Ivanov, Ivanova, 2002).
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