Coptodon zillii ( Gervais, 1848 )

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 : 39

Coptodon zillii ( Gervais, 1848) [N]—Redbelly tilapia; None

Taxonomy. Original description: Acerina zillii Gervais, 1848: 203 [Artesian well, Tuggurth, Algeria; syntypes: MNHN (lost)].—Syrian synonyms: Tilapia zillii ( Gervais, 1848) .—Revisions: Dunz & Schliewen (2013: 73).—Illustration: Goren (1974: fig. 33) as Tilapia zillii .

Status in Syria. First record from Syria by El Bolock & Koura (1961); confirmed by Beckman (1962: 60) as Tilapia zilli, Saad et al. (2006) , and Barakat et al. (2020).—Syrian material: MNHN, MSL.

Distribution and habitat. Distribution in Syria: Mediterranean coastal plain.—Distribution in River Basin: 3-Desert, 4-Orontes, 5-Barada & Awaj, 6-Coastal, 7-Al-Yarmouk.—General distribution: North Africa: Morocco east to Egypt, south to Nigeria and Central African Republic; Middle East: Syria south to Israel and Jordan. Introduced elsewhere.—Distribution in Ecoregion: 436-Coastal Levant, 437-Orontes, 438- Jordan River, 440-Arabian Interior.—Habitat: This species inhabits a very wide range of flowing water habitats, from fast-flowing headwaters and reservoirs to polluted canals and large lowland rivers. It is the most environmentally tolerant of all tilapia species, tolerating lack of oxygen, pollution, salinity, etc. Low water temperatures (below 10–13 oC) limit its occurrence. Freshwater, brackish.

Economic importance. Commercially important.

Conservation. Conservation Status in Israel: Unknown.—IUCN: LC ( IUCN 2023).—Threats: Unknown.—Low sensitivity to human activities.—Not considered as a keystone species.—Decline status: Unknown.—Low priority for conservation action.