Turcinoemacheilus kosswigi Bănărescu et Nalbant, 1964

Kamangar, Barzan Bahrami, Prokofiev, Artem M., Ghaderi, Edris & Nalbant, Theodore T., 2014, Stone loaches of Choman River system, Kurdistan, Iran (Teleostei: Cypriniformes: Nemacheilidae), Zootaxa 3755 (1), pp. 33-61 : 49-51

Turcinoemacheilus kosswigi Bănărescu et Nalbant, 1964

( Fig. 6 )

Turcinoemacheilus kosswigi: Bănărescu & Nalbant, 1964: 178 , pl. 8, Fig. 14 (original description); 1995: 457, Fig. 31; 1998: 114; Breil & Bohlen, 2001: 71, Fig. 1 ; Golzarianpour et al. 2009: 58, Fig. 1 (first record for Iran).

Material: FCFUK 226- FCFUK 267, 8 males, 26.7–41.8 mm SL, 18 females, 28.6–48.2 mm SL, 16 juveniles, 19.0– 26.8 mm SL, Choman River (Tajaban, station 6), Baneh, Kurdistan, Iran, 35° 56' 53" N; 45° 41' 40" E, June 2009, leg. B.B. Kamangar and E. Ghaderi; ZMMU, uncatalogued, cleared and stained, 1 female, 28.5 mm SL, Choman River (Tajaban, station 6), Baneh, Kurdistan, Iran, 35° 56' 53" N; 45° 41' 40" E, June 2009, leg. B.B. Kamangar and E. Ghaderi; FCFUK 268- FCFUK 269, 2 juveniles, 25–29 mm SL, Garmab River (Garmab Tajaban, station 7) Baneh, Kurdistan, Iran, 35° 56' 46" N, 45° 41' 52" E, Feb 2009, leg. B.B. Kamangar and E. Ghaderi.

Diagnosis: A species of Turcinoemacheilus with body totally devoid of scales and with a dark longitudinal band along middle of flanks.

Description: Morphometric and meristic features are provided in Tables 3 and 4. Body low and gracile, very elongate, cylindrical, and of uniform depth ( Figs. 6 a, 6b); caudal peduncle as long as head, compressed laterally; head depressed; snout much shorter than postorbital length, blunt, and its dorsal contour sharply declining from level of nares to tip of snout in lateral view. Eyes small and dorsolateral in position. Fins short, small; dorsal fin origin closer to caudal-fin base than to tip of snout and distal margin straight; distal margin of anal fin convex; pelvic fins inserted anterior to dorsal-fin origin, their tips extending slightly posterior to a mid-length of ventro-anal distance and anus, rounded tips formed by 2nd to 3rd or 3rd branched rays; pectoral fins shorter than head length, with tips bluntly pointed, formed by 3rd branched ray. Caudal fin deeply emarginated, with lobes of equal size and rounded. Pelvic axillary lobe present, short and small. Dorsal and ventral adipose crests absent or very weakly expressed in small fishes, but very clear in largest individuals. Anus opened equidistant from pelvic-fin insertion and anal-fin origin.

Nares closely spaced, anterior naris with triangular flap being as long as elongate posterior naris. Mouth ( Fig. 6 c) small and semilunar; lips thin, nearly smooth; upper lip continuous; lower lip broadly interrupted; processus dentiformis rather weakly developed; lower jaw broad, mostly not covered by lower lip, its distal edge nearly straight, with very slight trace of corresponding incision. Barbels short; those of second pair reaching to the level of anterior naris; barbels of third pair extending to the level of anterior margin—anterior third of orbit.

Supraorbital canal complete, not divided to narial and orbital group of pores, but broadly disconnected at infraorbital one. Supraorbital commissure uninterrupted. Upper pores of preopercular canal lying above the level of mouth. Number of pores in canals: supraorbital 7, infraorbital 12, preoperculo-mandibular 7, supratemporal 3. Body lateral line incomplete, short, usually reaching to only a vertical slightly behind tip of pectoral fin, and rarely to a level of last third of pectoral-dorsal distance (not far in front of dorsal-fin origin), sometimes unequally developed on opposite sides. Body scaleless. Intestine ( Figs. 6 d–6f) straight, without any loop. Inversal position of gastrointestinal tract has been found in some specimens ( Figs. 6 e and 6f). Bony air-bladder capsule ( Fig. 6 g) depressed, with the rather narrow, and ovoid; transversely elongated halves completely encircled by a thin and broad bony fringe connected by the long and narrow manubrium; posterior processes not developed; free airbladder portion highly reduced to absent.

Sexual dimorphism: Males possess thickened cheeks and breeding tubercles distributed on snout ( Figs. 6 h, 6i), ventral surface of head and body, and at the bases of paired fins, and pectoral fins longer than in females (Table 6).

Coloration of preserved specimens: Dorsum finely mottled (sometimes mottles nearly almost covering light underground), pale below, and with a dark longitudinal band along middle of flanks, the latter sometimes not being easily discernible from dark dorsal pigmentation, sometimes subdivided to spot-like extensions in posterior half of body; similarly a dark longitudinal line existing along mid-line of dorsum; two rather large, more or less sharply delimited pale marks on caudal peduncle located dorsally and ventrally near caudal-fin base; dorsal and caudal fins with indistinct transversely arranged dark mottles; other fins pale, or with few mottles on pectoral fins. Peritoneum silvery with spotted melanophores condensed dorsally; almost dark brownish in smallest juveniles.

Comparative remarks: Our specimens agree well with the previous descriptions of this fish from the Tigris- Euphrates basin in Turkey and Iran ( Bănărescu & Nalbant, 1964, 1995; Nalbant & Bianco, 1998; Breil & Bohlen, 2001; Golzarianpour et al. 2009) except for somewhat more developed lateral line in some of our specimens (lateral line was described as short, not extending beyond the tip of the pectoral fins by Bănărescu & Nalbant). Contrary to the descriptions of Bănărescu & Nalbant we cannot conclude the lateral line orifices are “larger than in most other nemacheilines”, but we found presence of the sexual dimorphism in this species.

Though T. kosswigi was recorded from numerous water-bodies of the Tigris-Euphrates basin in Turkey, it was formerly known in Iran from a single locality: River Sezar, a tributary of the Dez River, Karoun River drainage basin in South-Western Iran ( Golzarianpour et al. 2009). Our specimens were collected from the different basin of the Tigris system much northward from the only former location in Iran. Thus, a speculation about the wide distribution of this species in the tributaries across the Tigris-Euphrates drainage ( Golzarianpour et al. 2009: 60) in Iran can be supported.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Map of Choman River watershed and sampling site locations. The names of sampling sites (1 – 10) are presented in the Table 1.

FIGURE 6. Turcinoemacheilus kosswigi Bănărescu & Nalbant, 1964: a) adult female, SL 48.2 mm; b) juvenile, SL 25.8 mm; c) mouth structure; d) gastrointestinal duct; e and f) right- and left-orientated position of the gastrointestinal duct; g) bony airbladder capsule, ventral view; h) thickened cheeks; and i) breeding tubercles on snout of the mature male, SL 34.4 mm (arrowed).