Does the Garra population (Teleostei: Cyprinidae: Labeoninae) from the Kol River drainage, Persian Gulf basin merit formal description?

Recognizing and defining a species has been a controversial concern for a long time. To define the variation and the limitation between different species, especially closely related taxa in a complex species group, several concepts have been proposed which may lead to different taxonomic decisions. When a taxonomist studies a specific taxon, she/he should adopt a species concept and provide a species limitation to define the studied taxa. Garra population from the Kol River drainage, Persian Gulf basin has already been considered as Garra sp., based on molecular data, and to date no taxonomic decision has been made to provide a specific name for it. The Kol population presents several morphological characters that distinguish it from congeners: fully scaled breast; 78 branched dorsal-fin rays; caudal fin with 1617 branched rays and well-developed mental disc with free lateral and posterior margins. It is also distinguished from all other congeners in the Garra rufa group in Iran, by having two fixed, diagnostic nucleotide substitutions in the mtDNA COI barcode region. Furthermore, the Kol population demonstrates some distinct osteological characteristics in comparison to its closest species G. mondica. Based on the integrative molecular phylogenetic and species delimitation analyses, and morphological, osteological and distribution range data presented here, we think that the Kol River population merits formal description and can be considered as a distinct taxonomic unit (species).

Oxynoemacheilus marunensis, a new loach species from the Persian Gulf basin with remarks on O. frenatus (Teleostei: Nemacheilidae)

Oxynoemacheilus marunensis, new species, is described from the Marun, a tributary of the Jarrahi River, which flows just east of the Tigris River to the Persian Gulf. It belongs to a group of species (O. argyrogramma, O. euphraticus, O. hanae, O. karunensis, and O. kurdistanicus) having two bold, black, round, or comma-shaped black spots on the caudal-fin base. It is most similar to a newly described species from the Persian Gulf basin, O. karunensis, but distinguished from O. karunensis by having a longer distance between pelvic and anal-fin origins [22.3-23.8 vs. 19.5-22.3 (% SL)] and a K2P distance of 6% based on COI barcode region sequences.

Rhodeus caspius, a new bitterling from Iran (Teleostei: Cypriniformes: Acheilognathidae)

A new bitterling from the Rhodeus amarus group is described based on morphological and molecular data. Rhodeus caspius sp. nov. from the Caspian Sea, Urmia Lake and the upper Tigris River drainages in Iran, is distinguished from its closest congeners (R. amarus and R. colchicus) by having short post-dorsal distance and caudal peduncle length and long head length. It is also characterized by one fixed diagnostic nucleotide substitutions and a K2P nearest neighbor distance of 1% to R. amarus and R. colchicus in the mtDNA COI barcode region.

DNA barcoding and species delimitation of the Old World tooth-carps, family Aphaniidae Hoedeman, 1949 (Teleostei: Cyprinodontiformes)

The fishes, which have currently named Aphanius Nardo, 1827 are the relict of the ancient ichthyofauna of the Tethys Sea. For a long time since 1827, the genus name has been subjected to revision by several researchers using mainly morphological features. Until recently, no comprehensive single- or multi-locus DNA barcoding study has been conducted on whole members of the family Aphaniidae. In the present study, by applying four conceptually different molecular species delimitation methods, including one distance-based method, one network-based and two topology-based methods, we examined a single-locus DNA barcode library (COI) diversity for the 268 sequences within the family Aphaniidae from the Old World (57 sequences are new in the present study and 211 sequences were retrieved from NCBI database). The molecular analyses revealed a clearer picture of intra-family relationships and allowed us to clarify the generic names, and also describe a new genus for the family Aphaniidae. Results supported distinction of three major clades related to three genera within this family: i) the first clade includes the A. mento group which are placed in a new genus, Paraphanius gen. nov., found in the Orontes (= Asi) and Tigris-Euphrates River drainage, the Levant in coastal waters and the Dead Sea basin, western Jordan, and in southern Turkey in the Mediterranean basins as well as in central Turkey. This clade positioned at the base of the phylogenetic tree, (ii) the second clade contains the A. dispar-like brackish water tooth-carps which are transferred to the genus Aphaniops Hoedeman, 1951 (type species, Lebias dispar), distributed in the coastal waters around the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf basins; and (iii) the third clade, the genus Aphanius Nardo, 1827 (type species Aphanius nanus = A. fasciatus) contains all the inland and inland-related tooth-carps, which are mainly distributed in the inland waters in Turkey and Iran and also in the inland-related drainages around the Mediterranean basin.

Paraschistura kermanensis, a new stone loach species from southeastern Iran (Teleostei: Nemacheilidae)

Paraschistura kermanensis from the endorheic Kerman-Naein basin in Iran is distinguished from its closest congeners (P. abdolii, P. delvarii, P. kessleri and P. naumanni) by lacking scales on the flanks anterior to the dorsal-fin origin, having scales on the caudal peduncle, and having the pelvic-fin origin situated anterior to or below the vertical through the dorsal-fin origin. It is also characterised by six fixed diagnostic nucleotide substitutions and a K2P nearest neighbour distance of 4% to P. abdolii in the mtDNA COI barcode region.

<i>Cobitis</i> <i>keyvani</i>, a junior synonym of <i>Cobitis</i> <i>faridpaki</i> (Teleostei: Cobitidae)

The validity of C. keyvani and C. faridpaki is assessed based on morphological and molecular (COI) data from fishes collected from the type localities of both species. No diagnostic character was found to distinguish both species. Therefore, we treat C. keyvani as a junior synonym of C. faridpaki.

Iranocichla persa, a new cichlid species from southern Iran (Teleostei, Cichlidae)

Iranocichlapersasp. n. is described from the Shur, Hasanlangi and Minab River drainages flowing into the Persian Gulf at the Strait of Hormuz in southern Iran. It is distinguished from Iranocichlahormuzensis, from the Mehran River drainage, by nuptial males having a bright orange breast and lower part of the head (vs. black), a poorly developed or invisible (vs. distinctive) “Tilapia-mark” in the dorsal fin and very clear white spots making almost wavy bars or stripes on the caudal fin (vs. without or with very few white spots). Mitochondrial DNA sequence characters suggest that both Iranocichla species are closely related but form two distinct clades, diagnosable by several fixed mutations in ND2, D-loop and partially by COI sequences. Populations from Kol River drainage, which is situated in-between the Mehran and the Shur River drainages, are more similar to Iranocichlahormuzensis in terms of their male nuptial coloration but to Iranocichlapersasp. n. in their mitochondrial sequence characters. Their status requires further investigation.

Squalius namak, a new chub from Lake Namak basin in Iran (Teleostei: Cyprinidae)

Squalius namak, new species, from the endorheic Lake Namak and Kavir basins in Iran, is distinguished from the species of the genus Squalius in the Persian Gulf and the southern Caspian Sea basins by having a wide and thick symphysial knob on the lower jaw, a convex posterior anal-fin margin, a bold, dark-grey or brown, roundish or crescent-shaped blotch at the posterior tip of each flank scale and orange caudal-, anal- and pelvic-fin rays in life. Squalius namak is also characterized by four fixed, diagnostic nucleotide substitutions in the mtDNA COI barcode region.

Garra mondica, a new species from the Mond River drainage with remarks on the genus Garra from the Persian Gulf basin in Iran (Teleostei: Cyprinidae)

Garra mondica, new species, from the Mond River drainage in Iran is distinguished from its congeners by having 7½ branched dorsal-fin rays; the breast, belly and back in front of the dorsal-fin origin naked and 9+8 branched caudal-fin rays. Garra mondica is also distinguished from all other congeners in the Persian Gulf basin, except an unidentified species from the Kol River, by having two fixed, diagnostic nucleotide substitutions in the mtDNA COI barcode region. The identity of G. gymnothorax, a nominal species from the Karun River drainage, and G. crenulata, a nominal species from Central Iran, are discussed. Garra populations examined from the Karun have a unique mtDNA COI barcode sequence, but their diagnostic characters are not consistent with the description and syntypes of G. gymnothorax. G. crenulata is considered as a synonym of G. rufa. Two populations of Garra from the Kol River have a sequence of the COI barcode region very similar to G. mondica, but cannot be identified as G. mondica and their identity cannot be resolved here.

New records and geographical distribution of Alburnus hohenackeri Kessler, 1870 (Teleostei: Cyprinidae) in Iran

The distribution of the Persian bleak, Alburnus hohenackeri Kessler, 1870 in Iran is described. During a survey from 2009 to 2012, we captured 30 specimens of A. hohenackeri from Choghakhor Wetland in Tigris River basin and Kardeh Dam in Harirud River basin of Iran. This is the first report of the occurrence of this species in these localities. The main distribution range in Iran is the southern part of the Caspian Sea from where it has been translocated to the other Iranian basins along with exotic Chinese carps.