Two subspecies of the European anchovy Engraulis encrasicolus have been identified in the Black Sea: E. encrasicolus ponticus in the Black Sea proper and E. encrasicolus maeticus in the Azov Sea by e.g. Prodanov et al. (1993). Currently, European anchovy in the Black Sea proper forms a single population based on genetic data (Ivanova and Dobrolov, 2006; Bouchenak-Khelladi et al, 2008; Öztürk et al, 2011; Keskin and Atar, 2012), but although the two subspecies spawn in their respective seas there is some mixing of catches as the Azov anchovy has expanded southwards (Gücü, Ali Cemal 2015).