Iranian Journal of Fisheries Sciences
Volume:20 Issue: 1, Jan 2021

More than 3000 MT of Sargassum illicifolium ,annually washed-up from the Oman Sea (Sistan and Baluchestan province). , According to the estimates of the Iranian Fisheries Sciences Researchinstitiute.The brown seaweed biomass has been considered as one of the best free sources for production of sodium alginate. A key objective of this study was to determine the biochemical composition of Sargassum illicifolium collected from Chabahar Bay in November 2018 and to understand the economic potential and cost drivers of sodium alginate on basis of the present macroalgae. Alginates were purified by re-precipitation with ethanol and characterized by infrared spectroscopy. The results showed that the Chabahar Sargassum was characterized by total protein (TP), total lipid (TL) and carbohydrate as 9.8±0.8%, 4.4±0.2% and 33.2±4.1% dry weight, respectively. The ash content contained 41.6±2.3% DW. Moreover, the n-6/n-3 ratio was 2.62 and total essential amino acids and total minerals were 29.1±0.2 mg g-1 DW and 102. 2±0.6 mg g-1 DW, respectively. sodium alginate of Sargassum illicifolium was found to be high as 28.2% purification with molecular weight of 8.06×105 g mol-1. Its total production price was evaluated 7.66 $ per kg sodium alginate, which is much cheaper than existing ones on the Iranian market.

This paper focuses on the use of incorporation of silver (Ag) and copper (Cu) nanoparticles in titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanocomposites, as Ag/Cu/TiO2 nanocomposite was synthetized through the chemical reduction method against food borne microorganisms. The antimicrobial effect of Ag/Cu/Tio2 nanocomposite demonstrated a considerable antimicrobial activity as order as Escherichia coli > Staphylococcus aureus > Aspergillus niger. The results of the agar diffusion test exhibited no halo growth around the discs of four nanocomposite samples, which indicated the perfect inhibitory effect of synthesized Ag/Cu/TiO2 nanocomposites against the afore-mentioned bacteria. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis exhibited that Ag and Cu nanoparticles were homogeneously distributed into the TiO2 nanocomposite. Furthermore, the results of inductive coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) method showed that 0/168 ppm of Ag was released to caviar samples on 32nd day and 62nd days of the experiment. All findings indicated that the combined usage of Ag/Cu/Tio2 nanoparticles could meet all desirable objectives including increase of antimicrobial activity and reduction release of Ag nanoparticles into the caviar, which extends caviar shelf life.

This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of aqueous Zingiber officinale extract (ZE) on growth performance, antioxidant activity and resistance of shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) challenged with Photobacterium damselae bacteria. A total number of 600 post larvae shrimps (initial weight, 1.06±0.7 g) were randomly distributed into 12 fiberglass tanks representing four treatments each tank containing of 50 shrimp. The control shrimp group (ZE0) was fed a ZE free basal diet. Other groups were fed the basal diet supplemented with 0.5 (ZE 0.5), 1.0 (ZE1) and 1.5 (ZE 1.5) g kg-1 diet. Diets were offered to shrimp at a feeding rate of 10% of live body weight for 8 weeks. After 8 weeks of experimental trial 30 shrimp from each group was infected with LD70 bacteria P. damselae over 10 days to evaluated disease resistance of infected shrimp. Results revealed that growth performance (WG, SGR, FW and PER), the antioxidant activity (SOD, PO, GPx and CAT) of shrimp have significantly increased and cumulative mortality rate decreased (p<0.05) in the ZE1 group compared with the other groups. Meanwhile, the lowest FCR and MDA value were observed in shrimp fed ZE1 supplemented diet. It can be concluded that Z. officinale extract at the level of 1g kg-1 (ZE1) diet seems to be the most appropriate level for increasing growth performance, antioxidant activity and disease resistance of L. vannamei.

In the last three decades, several ecological factors were changed and affected the most important commercial fish stocks in the Caspian Sea. This paper aims to assess the effects of these pressures on the population structure, stock status and the vulnerability risk of stock extinction of the stellate sturgeon (Acipenser stellatus Pallas, 1771) in the Southern Caspian Sea, in the years 1990-2011. For this period, we estimated growth parameters, the age structure of catch, sexual maturity, age at first capture, natural and fishing mortality, biomass and risk of stock extinction of stellate sturgeon by IUCN Red List categories. Fork lengths of individuals ranged from 82 to 206 cm and ages from 4 to 29 years. The growth parameters were L∞=215.0 cm, K= 0.064 year−1, t0=−3.2 years. The majority of the catch (67.4-90.1%, averaged 80.0%) belonged to 9-13 years old. The biomass had a descending trend from 4983.5 mt in 1990-91 declined to 10.6 mt in 2011-12. The generation length was 16 years. Stock status indicators showed that 89% of catch were mature individuals, mature and optimum fish length comprised 74% and 10% of the fish captured comprise mega-spawners. This study revealed that the stock of the stellate sturgeon is being overfished for the whole years and critically endangered.

In the present paper population structure of four commercially important fishes were studied, namely Tenualosa ilisha, Pampus argenteus, Scomberomorus guttatus and Osteogeneiosus militaris, in the Sundarban Estuary of the northern Bay of Bengal from June 2011 to March 2012. However, a thorough understanding of life history based on length and weight data of these four fishes (617 T. ilisha, 485 P. argenteus, 351 S. guttatus and 416 O. militaris) would be immensely important. Results of such studies would be important for sustainable management of these highly economic biological resources. The analysis of life history parameters of these four species, such as growth, exploitation, mortality, etc. showed that their stocks in coastal waters off West Bengal were overexploited during the study period as exploitation rate of T. ilisha, P. argenteus, S. guttatus and O. militaris were 0.78, 0.62, 0.75 and 0.54 respectively. Widespread fishing of juvenile and growing fish declined the population considerably losing the economic advantage. Good governance, strong law enforcement and effective management system should be sure for actual benefit from the fish resources and improving livelihoods of dependent communities.

Glossogobius aureus is an important commercial fish for food supply and has been caught increasingly, but data on its population biology is limited. The present study was carried out along coastlines from Soc Trang to Bac Lieu, southern Vietnam to contribute new information on the biological characteristics of G. aureus population. Data analysis of length-frequency distribution of 666 individuals showed that the equation of von Bertalanffy curve of this species was . The species displayed 4.47 y longevity and 2.75 in the growth performance. The length-converted catch curve analysis showed that the fishing, natural and total mortalities were 2.73 yr-1, 1.52 yr-1 and 4.25 yr-1 respectively and fish exploitation rate was 0.64. There was one recruitment peak in July and the analyses of relative yield-per-recruit and biomass-per-recruit gave Emax=0.408, E0.1=0.284 and E0.5=0.404. This goby is potentially an aquaculture species due to its high growth rate. The fish stock has been overfished, so the gill net mesh size should be increased and fish should not be caught during the recruitment period for sustainable management.

Bivalvia is one of the least studied classes of the Persian Gulf. A survey and molecular analysis was conducted to determine bivalve species diversity in the Persian Gulf. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of barcoding data on bivalves of the Persian Gulf. We examined 40 individuals representing 8 species, 6 genera and 5 families. We collected samples from Hengam, Larak and Qeshm Islands and Bandar Lengeh in Persian Gulf, Iran. After DNA extraction, mitochondrial 16S ribosomal DNA (16SrDNA) and Cytochrome Oxidase subunit I were amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Based on obtained 16SrDNA and COI gene sequences and maximum parsimony, neighbor joining and maximum likelihood trees of these genes there was no overlap between maximum Kimura 2- parameter distance among conspecifics. Most species formed agglutinate sequence units with a small amount of changes. Eventually, comparison of the 8 selected studied species with metadata from India, Brazil, Japan, China, and America exposed that these species in Persian Gulf are classified in sister clades with high bootstraps except Pinctada. Since there is not much work on bivalves identification in the Persian Gulf, larger sampling and more research is needed to investigate mollusc diversity in this area.

Pristinella jenkinae (Stephenson, 1931) is a freshwater cosmopolitan oligochaete. This species was found during limnological investigation in two rivers alongside Iranian coasts and has not been previously reported from Iran’s freshwater fauna and Southern Caspian Sea basin. The specimens of P. jenkinae were collected bimonthly from Cheshmehkileh and Sardabrood rivers and estuaries (river mouth) using a Van Veen grab (0.03 m2) and Surber (0.1 m2, 0.2 mm-mesh size) samplers at three stations in each estuary (S1: riverine, S2: estuary and S3: marine ecosystem) with three replicates from November 2014 through September 2015. Results of temporal distribution showed that the highest and lowest density and biomass of this species were in January (102.3±68.3 ind m-2 and 0.075±0.034g m-2) and in September (24.4±12.3 ind m-2 and 0.020±0.005g m-2), respectively which were significantly different (N=57, t=0.99, p<0.05). Spatial distribution of P. jenkinae among sampling stations (S1, S2 and S3) showed significant differences (N=57, t=0.99, p<0.05). Freshwater stations (S1) within the river showed higher density and biomass (112.1±64.8 ind m-2 and 0.082±0.035g m-2) than semi-brackish stations (S2) within the estuary (18.8±10.3 ind m-2 and 0.013±0.005g m-2). Semi-brackish stations (S2) showed higher density and biomass than brackish stations (S3) within the sea (0±0 ind m-2 and 0±0g m-2). Density and biomass of this species in Cheshmehkileh River and estuary was more than Sardabrood. A significant correlation (N=57, r=Pearson, p<0.05) between density and biomass of P. jenkinae with environmental variables was found.

One of the subjects attracted the interest of researchers in recent years in the field of biology is marine algae, due to their nutritional value, their benefits for health and their biological activities. In this study, steroid fractions of acetone extract of Colpomenia sinuosa (Phaeophyceae alga) from the Persian Gulf and Oman sea (Iran) have studied and evaluated for their antibacterial activity against pathogenic bacteria: one gram-positive bacterium (Staphylococcus aureus) and two gram-negative bacteria (Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeroginosa). Antimicrobial susceptibility tests have expressed in terms of minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC), minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) of the test organisms with respect to the acetone extracts of Colpomenia sinuosa. Extracts of all tested marine algae have showed inhibition against all of the pathogenic microbes. In addition, the highest inhibition activity among all the extracts was shown from Cholestane fraction to S.aoreus and lower inhibition activity was shown from Oleic acid fraction to P. aeruginosa.

Aeromonas hydrophila is an opportunistic pathogen causing high mortality and economic burden in freshwater fish farming. This study aims to develop a co-agglutination method for detecting and creating Aeromonas hydrophila diagnostic rapidly. In this study, we injected rabbits (±2kg weight) with 1mL of A. hydrophila antigen suspension 1.2 x 109cfu mL–1 at one week intervals (three times, intra vena) respectively. The gouramis (15.48±0.55g-1 weight) were infected by Aeromonas hydrophila, Aeromonas sobria, Aeromonas salmonicida, Streptococcus agalactiae, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa separately with 0.1 mL fish–1 and 108 cfu mL–1 bacterial cell suspensions. The antiserum was purified to couple with the Staphylococcus aureus suspension protein A, in a 1:1 (v/v) ratio and used by the co-agglutination reagent. We compared this method with standard polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for A. hydrophila detection. The rabbit antibody reaction occurred only against A. hydrophila antigen showing specificity of the gourami tissue supernatant within 10-30 seconds. The sensitivity test had a detection limit of 106 cfu mL–1. Comparison detection method with PCR showed that positive result of A. hydrophila was located in 209 bp. Co-agglutination method could detect A. hydrophila in the internal organ of fish at 12h after injection, but the PCR method could detect at one hour after injection. This research concluded that co-agglutination method could detect A. hydrophila specifically, sensitively, rapidly and practically in laboratory and field examination.

A population genetics study on Penaeus semisulcatus from Persian Gulf was performed to assist in the selection of suitable broodstocks for future breeding programs. Eight novel microsatellite loci were developed to study population genetics structure of P. semisulcatus in three population sites, Persian Gulf and Oman Sea (Jask, Hormoz and Kuhestak). There were incidences of heterozygosity deficiency and significant deviations from Hardy Weinberg equilibrium (HWE) at most loci (p<0.001). However, four loci (loci E2 and B9 – Hormoz; loci C6 – Kuhestak; and loci H9 – Jask) found to be in HWE. Micro-Checker analysis revealed null alleles in the three microsatellite loci (B5, C6 and C9). Pairwise Fst comparison based on allelic and genotypic frequencies indicated that the three populations were significantly differentiated from each other (p<0.05). High levels of pairwise Fst (0.106) and low levels of Nm (2.103) observed between Hormoz and Jask populations indicated restricted gene flow between the two populations. On the other hand, low levels of pairwise Fst (0.016) and high levels of Nm (15.876) observed between Hormoz and Kuhestak populations indicated high gene flow between these populations. In this study, the assignment test was examined in order to find gene flow connectivity between the three populations. Overall, results revealed high gene flow between Hormoz and Kuhestak and restricted genetic flow between Jask and both Hormoz and Kuhestak populations, providing new input for selection of genetically-suitable broodstocks.

This research was conducted in the fishing ground of Bushehr Province in the northern Persian Gulf from October 2018 to June 2019. Scomberomorus commerson specimens were caught using common multifilament drift gillnet with mesh sizes of 130, 140, 150 mm (STR). The main purpose was to determine the proper gillnet mesh size for the prohibition of catching non-adult fish using girth measurements. Fork length, girths were measured at the preopercle (POG), opercula (OG), and first (DF1G) and second dorsal (DF2G) fins. Overall, 1230 specimens were caught during the autumn, winter, and spring seasons. The percentages of immature Narrow-barred Spanish mackerel caught by gillnets with the mesh sizes of 130, 140, and 150 mm (STR) were 69.2% , 66.5% , and 60.3 %, respectively. The estimated equations between fork length and girths were POG=0.2285FL+5.4836 (R2=0.8366), OG=0.2477FL+6.8582 (R2=0.8006), DF1G=0.2851FL+7.0874 (R2=0.8566), and DF2G= 0.3191FL+8.1031 (R2=0.8316). Pearson correlation analysis also showed a positive correlation between the measured girths and fork length (p<0.01). Two-way ANOVA results showed that the effect of mesh size on fork length and girths were significant (p<0.05). Based on the fork length of first sexual maturity (83.6 cm), the use of the estimated mesh size based on the DF2G (17.39 cm) will be essential to reduce the catch of non-adult fish and having sustainable fishing in the future.

The present study is an attempt to analyze the value chain of tuna and tuna-like species. The study is intended to show the main loops of tuna and tuna-like species industry along with their relations. Also, the present study indicates the current map of value chain along with its problem tree for tuna and tuna-like species in Iran. According to test hypothesis, the status of tuna and tuna-like species value chain is not ideal in Iran. Weak market for various tuna products (lack of variety in the production of canned goods and the non-canned products), low rate of export to Iraq, Afghanistan and Central Asia (high cost, lack of competitiveness and non-flexibility of the rules and regulations for producing products with the preference of exporting countries) and the weakness in the export of the fresh tuna to Japan and the European Union for added value products (non-compliance with the target countries criteria and the weakness of the transport infrastructure, especially in the air transit) were identified as the main problems. Also, in the present study, the missing and weak factors which reduced the efficiency of the value chain were identified in forms of the problem trees and ranked by Friedman test. The results of this study showed that the value chain of tuna and tuna-like species suffer from the lack of fair distribution of profit between the value chain loops, no diversification in the production of value added products, neglecting the quality in the value chain and poor access to the export market of value added products.

Given the role of Penaeus vannamei species in shrimp farming of Islamic Republic of Iran’s economy (Bushehr and Hormozgan provinces), the proper management of brood stocks in order to reduce the inbreeding coefficient of mentioned species is unavoidable. Sampling has been conducted from two hatcheries in Hormozgan province and one hatchery in Bushehr Province produced post larvae. Total of 18 samples were collected from three regions and used for genetic investigation. Seven haplotypes have been identified from the 502 aligned sequence derived from the COI gene. Phylogeny study showed all samples from three stations showed one clade with two main clusters showed highly Homozygosity of Bushehr and Hormozgan hatcheries. In this study, the maximum amount of fixation (Fst) statistics was observed between Bushehr and Hormozgan samples with minimal gene flow. Also the minimum amount of Fst was recorded between both hatchery stations from Hormozgan province which had the highest gene flow. Thus, according to the results obtained from this project, any productive application of vannamei shrimp brood stocking for post larvae reproducing should be performed by consideration to genetic research and also genetic differentiation between imported brood stocks.

The economic losses due to fungal contamination in development of sturgeon and the side effects of malachite green in the environment are very important. Therefore, it is essential to investigate and introduce suitable natural substances instead of malachite green. The aim of this study was to compare antifungal effect of Thymus vulgaris with malachite green on fungi isolated from Siberian sturgeon eggs obtained from International Sturgeon Research Institute. The samples were inoculated in culture media (SDA) and Glucose-Peptone Agar at 25°C for 5-7 days and then isolated fungi were identified. The antifungal effect of T. vulgaris extract was evaluated by disc diffusion method and MIC and MFC of fungi was measured. In this study, Saprolegnia spp., Fusarium spp., Rhodotorula spp., Penicillium spp., Trichoderma spp., Chrysosporium spp. and sterile hyphae were isolated and identified from fertilized eggs of A. baerii. According to the results, T. vulgaris extract had a significant effect on all isolated fungal species. The most effective sample was observed on Saprolegnia and the least effective ones were Fusarium and Trichoderma. The MIC and MFC of alcoholic extract for Saprolegnia spp., Fusarium spp., Rhodotorula spp., Penicillium spp., Trichoderma spp., Chrysosporium spp., sterile hyphae were ≥0.75, 3, 1.5, 1.5, 0.75, 1.5, ≤0.75 mg/ml, and ≥1.5, ≥3, 3, 3, 1.5, 3 and 1.5 mg/ml, respectively. Due to high frequency of Saprolegnia spp. in A. baerii eggs, and the significant effect of alcoholic extract of T. vulgaris, it could be used as a good alternative for malachite green to reduce the frequency of fungal contamination and its economic losses during reproductive seasons of A. baerii.

This work is mainly concerned with the changes of amino acids and proximate compositions of Caspian Sea Beluga sturgeon (Huso huso) caviar after culture in freshwater. Proximate compositions did no differ between wild and farmed Beluga caviar (p>0.05). Eighteen amino acids were identified in wild and farmed Beluga caviars, but they had significant differences in some amino acids content. Isoleucine was the most abundant amino acid among total amino acids, which was 50.17±2.75 (mg/g) in wild caviar and was 26.83±0.82 (mg/g) in farmed ones (p<0.05). The essential amino acids content (EAA), in wild and farmed caviar were 132.66±6.8 and 110.16±7.35 (mg/g), nonessential amino acids (NEAA) were 107.92±5.68 and 121.79±4.08 (mg/g) and total amino acids (TAA) were 240.58±12.48 and 231.95±11.43 (mg/g) respectively (p>0.05). But the ratio of EAA/NEAA in wild samples 1.23±0 was significantly higher than farmed ones 0.9±0.03 (p<0.05). Functional amino acids (FAA) in wild and farmed samples were 96.1±8.66 and 116.8±9.65 (mg/g) (p>0.05), but the ratio of (FAA/TAA) in wild caviar was 0.40±0.02 and in farmed one was 0.50±0.02, which was significantly higher in farmed caviar (p<0.05). Delicious amino acids (DAA) were 54.9±1.89 and 54.86±2.01 (mg/g) in wild and farmed caviar and the ratio of (DAA/TAA) were 0.23±0 and 0.24±0 (p>0.05) respectively. The present study indicated that, farmed Beluga caviars were well balanced with the essential amino acids, functional amino acids and had a good EAA/NEAA ratio, so can be considered as a valuable food resource as well as the wild ones.

The present study was carried out to determine freshness quality and remaining storage time of eclipse parrotfish and spangled emperor stored in ice on days 0, 2, 3, 5, 7, 9, 12, 15, 19 and 21 using selective methods. A score of 11-12 coincided with the level at which the fish were considered unacceptable by a sensory panel of six experienced assessors. The demerit score of eclipse parrotfish and spangled emperor increased linearly (R2=0.9563 and 0.9624, respectively) with storage time. The limit for acceptability of eclipse parrotfish and spangled emperor stored in ice was 9 and 19 days respectively. Total volatile base nitrogen value (45.87±1.10 mg/100g) for parrotfish stored in refrigerator exceeded limit of acceptability at the time of sensory rejection (9th day) while the value (5.93±0.28 mg/100 g) for spangled emperor was remained below the limit of acceptability after 9 days and increased to 54.96±1.80 mg/100g at the 19th day. The pH for both fishes showed significant (p<0.05) increases during the storage. Total viable count in spangled emperor analyzed were found to be below the acceptability limits (6 log10 cfu/g) by 15 days while maximum level of acceptability of eclipse parrotfish was until 7 days. Shelf-life of both fishes was different. Sensory score, value of TVB-N, pH and TVC provide evidence that the limit for acceptability was 7 days for eclipse parrotfish and 15 days for spangled emperor stored at 0 - 20C.

In this study, the effects of diets supplemented with 13.5%, 22.5%, 31.5% and 51.7% (diet groups; D1, D2, D3, D4, respectively) egg flour instead of fish meal on blood proteins, lipids and ion levels pigmentation of rainbow trout were investigated. Fish (initial weight and length, 72.87±0.73 g, 18.11±0.06 cm, respectively) were distributed into 15 fiberglass rectangular (200 cm×40 cm ×40 cm) tanks in a 5×3 experimental design (5 diet groups×3 replicate groups) with a density of 30 juvenile rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) per tank. Fish were fed with four different diets containing egg flour, and a basal diet (not supplemented) for 12 weeks. The results of oneway ANOVA test showed that blood proteins, lipids and ion levels of fish were affected by dietary supplementation of egg flour. Serum glucose level in the D4 group was significantly lower (p<0.05) than the other diet groups. Serum total protein (TP) levels in D4 and D3 group were significantly higher (p<0.05) than the other diet groups. Serum uric acid, creatinin, blood urea nitrogen (BUN), and urea levels increased in the D4 group. It was concluded that replacing with 50% egg flour in rainbow trout diet decreased the serum ion levels of magnesium (Mg+), calcium (Ca+), sodium (Na+), potassium (K+) and phosphorus (P) %. However, serum Cl- levels were not statistically different among the groups (p>0.05). On the other hand, serum lipid levels concluded an increasing tendency with the increasing percentage of supplement in the fish diet. The results of the present work indicate that compared to the experimental diets, it can also be concluded that when egg flour is used in rations of over 50% in rainbow trout it has significantly negative effects on blood protein, lipid and ion concentration.

The main purpose of this study was to find the absorption of Pb as heavy metal and cyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) by Dreissena polymorpha under oil pollution. Totally, 130 samples with an average length range of 3.5±0.7 cm and average weight range of 25.5±3 g were collected from the Tajan River estuary in Mazandaran province and transferred to the laboratory. Three stations were considered (Station 1: Oil Company Wastewater (OCW), Station 2: Car Oil Change Wastewater (COCW), Station 3: Agricultural Pumping Canal (APC)). The amounts of PAHs and lead metal uptake by bivalves were measured during warm and cold water seasons. Tissue mass was isolated to measure PAHs at each station. In the cold season, the maximum concentration of lead was in the OCW station (0.762±0.01 mg/L) and the lowest concentration was observed in APC station (0.367±0.06 mg/L) (p<0.05). In the warm season, the highest concentration of Pb was observed in COCW station (0.558±0.02 mg/L) and the lowest was in APC station (0.376±0.01 mg/L). There was no significant difference between OCW and COCW stations in the cold season (p>0.05). Also, in the warm season, the highest concentration of Pb was observed in COCW station and the lowest concentration was in APC station (p<0.05). During the experiment period, the highest absorbed concentration of bivalves was recorded at OCW station (328.39 ±1.33 ng/dw) and the lowest concentration was in APC station (62.85±8.9 ng/dw). Moreover, there was a significant difference between PAHs concentration of OCW station with other stations (p<0.05). The concentration of the compounds measured in February was higher than in August due to the precipitation and flooding of the route to the bivalve stations. Heavy compounds were also more concentrated than lighter compounds. Finally, it can be concluded that this bivalve can be used as an appropriate biomarker for monitoring oil compounds in the environment.

The genus Garra, a cyprinid fish with eleven confirmed species, is distributed in many Iranian rivers, from western to eastern and southern Iran. Materials for this study were from available published data, data bank provided by Isfahan University of Technology Ichthyological Museum (IUT-IM), and sampling during 2017-2018. Three species, G. lorestanensis, G. typhlops and G. tashanensis live in subterranean waters but other species, such as G. amirhosseini, G. gymnothorax, G. mondica, G. nudiventris, G. persica, G. rossica, G. roseae and G. rufa live in surface waters.

Length-weight and length-length relationships were estimated for eight species occurring in the Hara Biosphere Reserve in the Persian Gulf. Specimens were collected quarterly by block net and drift gillnet from June 2017 to July 2018.  The b-values for length–weight relationships varied from 2.693 to 3.321. The study represents the first published information on LWRs for Hemiramphus archipelagicus (Collette & Parin, 1978), Lagocephalus guentheri (Miranda Ribeiro, 1915), and Triacanthus biaculeatus (Bloch, 1786) and first-time reports for FishBase. These species are ranked as rare in the sense that they have a restricted range.