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Issue: Vol. 5357 No. 1: 17 Oct. 2023
Type: Article
Published: 2023-10-17
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5357.1.1
Page range: 1-49
Abstract views: 523
PDF downloaded: 18

Freshwater fishes of Iraq: a revised and updated annotated checklist—2023

Department of Biology; Faculty of Art and Sciences; Nevşehir Hacı BektaşVeli University; Nevşehir; Türkiye
School of Environmental and Animal Sciences; Unitec Institute of Technology; Auckland; New Zealand
Department of Fisheries; Faculty of Natural Resources; University of Tehran; Karaj; Iran
Ichthyology and Molecular Systematics Research Laboratory; Zoology Section; Department of Biology; School of Science; Shiraz University; Shiraz; Iran
Department of Fisheries; Faculty of Natural Resources; University of Tehran; Karaj; Iran
Health Services Vocational School; Nevşehir Hacı BektaşVeli University; Nevşehir; Türkiye
Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde in Stuttgart; Rosenstein 1; 70191 Stuttgart; Germany
Pisces Freshwater ichthyofauna diversity endemic IUCn exotic Euphrates tigris

Abstract

The current status of the freshwater fishes of Iraq is revised, and an updated checklist is presented. The confirmed freshwater fishes of Iraq comprise 98 species belonging to 16 orders, 28 families, and 56 genera. Among these, 21 species (21.4%) are alien, and three species (3.0%) are considered endemic to Iraq. The orders with the largest numbers of species in the ichthyofauna of Iraq are Cypriniformes (57 species), followed by Siluriformes (12 species), Mugiliformes and Cyprinodontiformes (six species in each), Acanthuriformes and Cichliformes (three species in each), Centrarchiformes and Gobiiformes (two species in each), and the others represent only one species. At the family level, the Cyprinidae have the greatest number of species (28; 28.3% of the total species), followed by Nemacheilidae (16 species), Leuciscidae (eight species), Mugilidae (six species), Sisoridae (five species), and Xenocyprididae (four species in each). A total of 20 species that have been previously reported from Iraq have been excluded from the checklist. According to IUCN Red List criteria, among 77 naturally distributed species (alien species not included), 10 species (13.0%) are categorized as threatened extinctions, with three (3.9%) as CR, one (1.3%) as EN, and six (7.8%) as VU. A total of 38 taxa were assessed (49.4%) as LC, 27 species were not assigned NE (35.1%), and two species (2.0%) were classified as DD, i.e., with insufficient knowledge.

 

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