Iranian Journal of Ichthyology
Volume:5 Issue: 4, Dec 2018

The systematics, morphology, distribution, biology and economic importance of the bitterlings of Iran are described, the species is illustrated, and a bibliography on this fish in Iran is provided. There is a single species, Rhodeus amarus, found in the Caspian Sea basin and introduced to the Lake Urmia and Tigris River basins.

Some aspects of reproductive biology of Capoeta razii, an endemic cyprinid species from the Sefid River in the southern Caspian Sea basin, were studied by monthly sampling throughout a year. Age, growth, sex ratio, spawning season, fecundity, gonado-somatic, modified gonado-somatic and Dobriyal indices were estimated. The sex ratio (F: M) was obtained as 1.00:2.63, and the percentage of males was greater than females. The mature males and females were longer than 88 and 148 mm in total length, and 1+ and 2+ in age, respectively. The spawning of C. razii took place from late May to late August when the water temperature was between 19.7 and 22.8◦C. At the beginning of the reproduction period, the average gonado-somatic index values were 10.0% ranging from 4.03% to 15.90% in ripe females. The estimated gonadal indices showed that the ripe males were ready to spawn earlier than females. The average egg diameter was 0.99±0.65, ranging from 0.2 to 2.3 mm. The averages absolute and relative fecundity were 4386±2174 and 66.3±37.8, respectively. The absolute fecundity was significantly related to body weight and gonad weight.

The Iranian species of the genus Sabanejewia are reviewed based on morphological, osteological and molecular characters of the mtDNA COI barcode region. Two species, Sabanejewia aurata and Sabanejewia caspia are recognized and diagnoses are presented for both species. They are distinguishable through body pattern, length of caudal peduncle, snout and post orbital distance, shape of scale and suborbital spine, caudal complex skeleton and also the number of fixed, diagnostic nucleotide substitutions. Here we re-describe both Iranian spined loaches.

This study was carried out to determine the intra- and inter- population variations of chub, Squalius cephalus, utricular and lagenar otolith shapes sampled from four localities in the Black Sea region. Otolith shape indices, including Form Factor (FF), Circularity (C), Roundness (RO), Rectangularity (RE), Aspect Ratio (AR) and Ellipticity (E) were used for otolith shape analyses and multivariate analyzes (Canonical Discriminant Analysis) were used to assess interspecies variations. The FF and C were found statistically significant for lapillus, but not for asteriscus otoliths in the four habitats. Furthermore, RO was similar for all localities for both asteriscus and lapillus. CDA results showed that 66.5% of the chub individuals were correctly classified. The results indicated otolith shape can be used as a suitable tool to discriminate chub populations.

Otolith morphology is important for species identification, fishery management and stock assessment. In this study, otolith (Sagitta) morphology of four fish species viz. Pomatomus saltatrix, Sarpa salpa, Trachurus trachurus, and Belone belone was investigated. The length (mm), width (mm), area (mm2) and perimeter (mm) measurements of the otoliths were made and four different shape indices, including form factor (FF), aspect ratio (AR), roundness (RD) and circularity (Cİ) were calculated. In addition, relationships between total fish length and otolith morphology were investigated. Measurements of sagittal otoliths of four species were obtained by image analysis using tri-ocular microscope. Based on the results, the morphometric measurements and four examined shape factors of otolith varied among species. Coefficients of correlations (r) between total fish length and otolith morphology and otolith length-otolith morphology were generally highly significant (P<0.05) for studied fishes. The results show that the shape indices were significantly different in analyzed species even they indicated a similar pattern with maximal otolith length. These data provide information for species identification using sagittal otoliths in the fossils and diets of fish predators and also will contribute to the region's sustainable fisheries management.

The monospecific genus Allips is reported here for the first time from Indian waters, from a specimen collected from the sea grass bed outside the Nalban bird Sanctuary, Chilika lagoon, India, with its morphometric characters, vertebrae and teeth pattern. The rare small eye snake eel A. concolor was earlier described by McCosker, 1972 on the basis of a single specimen. After that, there are very rare reports on this particular species especially on its morphometry after McCosker (1972). This paper extends the range of A. concolor McCosker, 1972 from eastern Andaman Sea and Northern Territory, Australia to Indian waters. A detailed discussion on the distribution and habitat is also provided in this paper.

The bluering angelfish Pomacanthus annularis (Bloch, 1787) is a well-known pomacanthid distributed in Gulf of Mannar, Indian Ocean, IndoWest Pacific: east coast of Africa, throughout Indonesia and New Guinea to New Caledonia, and in Andaman Sea. For the first time one specimen belonging to this species was caught in the Odisha coast, Bay of Bengal, India. We reviewed its distribution after compilation with available literature.