Fish diversity of the Euphrates River between Medina and Qurna cities, southern Iraq

The present study was conducted to evaluate the fish community and diversity status in the Euphrates River between Medina and Qurna cities, northwest of Basrah Province, Iraq. In addition, the relationship between some environmental parameters, including water temperature, dissolved oxygen, salinity, pH, and turbidity, and fish abundance were investigated by sampling from November 2020 to October 2021.Based on the results, there were no significant differences (P>0.05) in the environmental factors between the two studied sites except for salinity and turbidity.During the study, a total of 7387 fishes were collected belonging to 12 families, 21 genera, and 22 species. The Cyprinidae was dominated by seven species, followed by the Luciscidac with three species, the Cichlidae and Mugilidae families with two each, and the rest with one species each. There were ten natives, eight exotics, and four marine fish species.Planiliza abuc wasdominat species with 26.11 % of the total catch. Significant differences (P<0.05) were found in species richness and number of the collected individuals between two sites. Based on the results, fish species can be classified into three groups based on their distribution; common species with nine species, accounting for 98,66%; seasonal species with four species accounting for 0.798% and rare species, with nine species accounting 0.541% of total richness. Three species of P. abu, Coptodon zillii andCarassius auratuswere dominant species with 63.110% of the total catch.