Journal Article
A new locality for the blind loach, Eidinemacheilus smithi (Teleostei: Nemacheilidae) in Iranian Zagros: A morpho-molecular approach
Malek-Hosseini, M.J., Fatemi, Y., Esmaeili, H.R., Lokovšek, T. and Kuntner, M.
Record Number:
5969
Year:
2022
Journal:
Diversity
Pages:
1-11
Volume:
14, 724
Notes:
Copyright: © 2022 by the authors.
Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
This article is an open access article
distributed under the terms and
conditions of the Creative Commons
Attribution (CC BY) license (https://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/
4.0/).
Abstract:
Abstract: Four obligate cave fish species have been recorded from Zagros in Iran: Garra typhlops
(Bruun and Kaiser, 1944), G. lorestanensis (Mousavi-Sabet and Eagderi, 2016), G. tashanensis (Mousavi-
Sabet, Vatandoust, Fatemi and Eagderi, 2016) and Eidinemacheilus smithi (Greenwood, 1976). So far,
the only known locality of the latter has been the Loven cave. Here, we extend the known range of
the Zagros blind loach (E. smithi) by reporting a new locality, the Tuveh spring, located 31 km south
of Loven. We combine morphological evidence with the calculated K2P genetic divergences of 1.39%
between Tuveh and Loven to confirm that these populations are conspecific. Our discovery of the
second E. smithi population has implications for the conservation of this rare and vulnerable species.
Keywords: troglobiont; Zagros blind loach; Irano-Anatolian hotspot; cave; subterranean
Times Cited:
2