Oxynoemacheilus tigris (Heckel, 1843)

Saad, Adib, Çiçek, Erdoğan, Esmaeili, Hamid Reza, Fricke, Ronald, Sungur, Sevil & Eagderi, Soheil, 2023, Freshwater fishes of Syria: a revised and updated annotated checklist- 2023, Zootaxa 5350 (1), pp. 1-62 : 14

Oxynoemacheilus tigris (Heckel, 1843) [N]—Halap loach; Lahhas alsakhr

Taxonomy. Original description: Cobitis tigris Heckel, 1843a: 1088 [98] [Kuiek River near Aleppo, Syria; syntypes: NMW 48441 (2), 49444-46 (2, 4, 2); SMF 405 (3)].—Syrian synonyms: Noemacheilus tigris (Heckel, 1843) ; Nemacheilus tigris (Heckel, 1843) ; Orthrias tigris (Heckel, 1843) ; Paracobitis tigris (Heckel, 1843) ; Barbatula tigris (Heckel, 1843) .—Revisions: Berg (1949:876) as synonym of Nemacheilus sargadensis Nikolskii 1900 ; Freyhof et al. (2019).—Illustration: Heckel (1843b: pl. 12, fig. 4) as Cobitis tigris .

Status in Syria. Recorded from Syria in original description by Lortet (1883: 172) as Nemachilus tigris ; subsequently reported by Beckman (1962: 77) as Nemachilus tigris .—Syrian material: BMNH, MCZ, NRM.

Distribution and habitat. Distribution in Syria: Euphrates River basin.—Distribution in River Basin: 1-Dajleh & Khabour, 2-Euphrates & Aleppo.—General distribution: Asia Minor and Middle East: upper Euphrates River basin ( Syria and Turkey).—Distribution in Ecoregion: 441-Lower Tigris & Euphrates, 442-Upper Tigris & Euphrates.—Habitat: This species lives in moderately fast-flowing to standing waters of streams with gravel or mud substrates. Freshwater.

Economic importance. No commercial importance.

Conservation. Conservation status in Syria: Unknown.—IUCN: CR ( IUCN 2023).—Threats: ABS, CLI, CON, HAB.—High sensitivity to human activities.—Keystone species.—Decline status: Decreasing.—High priority for conservation action.

Remarks. According to Krupp & Schnider (1989) this species is a synonym of Oxynoemacheilus leontinae .