Petromyzon marinus Linnaeus, 1758

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 : 8

Petromyzon marinus Linnaeus, 1758 [N]—Sea lamprey; Jalki

Taxonomy. Original description: Petromyzon marinus Linnaeus, 1758: 230 [Basel, Switzerland (original “in Mari Europaeo”, European seas; lectotype selected by Kottelat (1997: 29) as the specimen illustrated by Gesner (1604: 590) (specimen not preserved) which results in fixing the type locality].—Syrian synonyms: None.— Revisions: None.—Illustration: Kottelat & Freyhof (2007: 44, fig.).

Status in Syria. First record from Syria by Saad et al. (2021: 22).—Syrian material: MSL.

Distribution and habitat. Distribution in Syria: Mediterranean watersheds.—Distribution in River Basin: 6- Coastal.—General distribution: North-western Atlantic: northern Gulf of Mexico northward; North Atlantic: Greenland, Iceland; Baltic Sea; Mediterranean Sea; Black Sea [now extinct]; north-eastern Atlantic: White Sea and northern Norway south to northern Morocco.—Distribution in Ecoregion: 436-Coastal Levant.— Habitat: This species is anadromous. Adult fish migrate from the ocean or lake to spawning streams. Landlocked populations in lakes may migrate up to about 50 miles upstream for spawning. Anadromous populations with access to the ocean migrate up to a couple hundred miles. Females deposit numerous small eggs in nests made by males in the gravel, sand, and rubble of streams with a moderately strong current. Larvae burrow in sand and silt bottoms in quiet water downstream from spawning areas and filter-feed on plankton and detritus. Freshwater, brackish, marine.

Economic importance. No commercial importance.

Conservation. Conservation status in Syria: Unknown.—IUCN: LC ( IUCN 2023).—Threats: Localized threats may exist, but on a range-wide scale no major threats are known.—Moderate sensitivity to human activities.— Keystone species.—Decline status: Stable.—Moderate priority for conservation action.