Journal Article
The first record of a stygobiotic form of Garra rufa (Heckel, 1843), sympatric with Garra tashanensis Mousavi-Sabet, Vatandoust, Fatemi and Eagderi, 2016 (Teleostei, Cyprinidae), in Iranian subterranean waters
Malek-Hosseini, M.J., Flot, J.-F., Fatemi, Y., Babolimoakher, H., Kuntner, M., Diripasko, O.A., Jelić, D. and Bogutskaya, N.G.
Record Number:
6298
Year:
2023
Journal:
Subterranean Biology
Pages:
97-127
Volume:
46
Notes:
Copyright Mohammad Javad Malek-Hosseini et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium
Abstract:
We report the first finding of the stygobiotic form of the cyprinid fish Garra rufa (Heckel, 1843), discovered in a single locality in southwestern Iran, while the epigean form of the species is widely distributed in western Asia (Iran, Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, and Syria). We also report a new locality for its hypogean congener, Garra tashanensis, about 5 km east of its type locality. The two species occur in syntopy in out-flows of the Tang-e-Ban, a seasonal karstic spring that only has flowing water during winter and spring, when fish individuals are washed from the cave to the surface. Identification of the investigated samples was confirmed by morphological analyses, COI distances, and a phylogenetic tree. These findings suggest the existence of a large karst aquifer in the Tashan area that harbours several cave species of fish, crustaceans, and gastropods and may have considerable conservation implications
Times Cited:
2