Paracobitis malapterura

Freyhof, JÖrg, Yoğurtçuoğlu, Baran, Jouladeh-Roudbar, Arash & Kaya, Cüneyt, 2025, Handbook of Freshwater Fishes of West Asia, De Gruyter : 546-548

Paracobitis malapterura

Common name. Namak crested loach.

Diagnosis. Distinguished from other species of Paracobitis by: ○ flank behind dorsal origin or slightly anterior to dorsal base covered by scales, anterior flank naked / ○ moderately to slightly emarginate caudal / ○ posterior narial opening roundish / ○ caudal adipose crest high, its depth at highest point 3.3–3.8 SL in individuals between 30–50 mm SL / ○ tube of anterior nostril not fully overlapping posterior nostril when folded back / ○ midlateral stripe connected to blotches and saddles on caudal adipose crest / ○ caudal rays hyaline with an irregular pattern of dark-brown or black spots and elongated blotches often organised in 1–2 wide, irregularly shaped bars / ○ pelvic origin below vertical of last unbranched or first to

second branched dorsal ray / ○ axillary pelvic lobe small, often indistinct / ○ tube of anterior nostril reaching beyond posterior tip of posterior nostril when folded back. Size up to 126 mm SL.

Distribution. Iran: Qom, Qara chai, Jaj, and Karaj in Lake Namak basin and Nam and Hable in Western Kavir basin.

Habitat. Fast-flowing stream with gravel bottom.

Biology. Lives up to 5 years and spawns between March and May.

Conservation status. LC.

Remarks. There are doubtful records of this species from the Urmia basin, which need to be confirmed. Paracobitis iranica is a synonym.

Further reading. Freyhof et al. 2014b (diagnosis, distribution); Jamali et al. 2016 (biology).

The Hari at the border between Iran and Turkmenistan was the habitat of Paracobitis longicauda . Recently, the river falls often dry. Paracobitis malapterura, MNHN 3962, B.3070, syntypes, 126 and 103 mm SL; probably collected in 1837 and “sent from Syria.”

Pierre Martin Rémi Aucher-Éloy and Paracobitis malapterura . The provenance of a fish can occasionally be a source of considerable interest. Cobitis malapterura was described by Cuvier and Valenciennes (1846) based on two individuals ( MNHN 3962 and B-3070) received in 1840 by the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle ( MNHN) in Paris. Both specimens were dispatched to Paris by Rémi Aucher-Éloy, a French botanist who relocated to Constantinople (now İstanbul) to collect plants in West Asia. Between 1830 and 1838, he undertook extensive travels in West Asia. The two specimens are labelled as originating from Syria, yet Cuvier & Valenciennes (1846) note that “Mr. Aucher-Éloy (1792–1838) has sent, from Syria, a loach.” The two fish were probably sent through an agent from what is now

Lebanon, as this was a common practice at the time for agents to receive material and sell it to museums and collections. The fish were obtained by MNHN in 1840, following the death of Aucher-Éloy in 1838. This suggests they were collected in the final years of Aucher-Éloy’s travels. In March 1836, a significant portion of Aucher-Éloy’s collections were lost in a fire in Constantinople. Consequently, the fish were probably collected after the fire.

In 1836, Aucher-Éloy undertook several expeditions to Greece and Western Anatolia (an area devoid of Paracobitis ). In 1837, he accompanied the French zoologist M. Dufaud on a survey of northern Anatolia, traversing the shores of the north of Lake Urmia and extending as far as the Caspian Sea in Iran. In August 1837, they surveyed the western Alborz Mountain range, after which they departed the mountains on September 2. Their route took them along the lower Sefid, through Qazvin and Karaj, to Tehran, where they arrived on September 5. Dufaud died of fever in Tehran on October 21. On December 22, 1837, Aucher-Éloy continued his travels south, reaching Qom on December 24. In his account, he noted that the city was based on a small river that always had good water and never dried up. (Aucher-Éloy, 1843: 464). From Qom, he subsequently proceeded to Esfahan, and from there continued his journey southwards to Shiraz, Bandar Abbas, and later to Oman and also to Baluchistan, before returning to Esfahan, where he died.

Aucher-Éloy (1843) did not mention anything about his fish collection in his published work, but he rarely mentioned specific plants in his writings. The two loaches were the only fish sent to Paris. M. Dufaud may have collected them before he died in Tehran, as he was interested in zoological materials. Aucher-Éloy and Dufaud entered the distribution range of Paracobitis when they visited the Lake Namak basin after turning east from the Sefid to Tehran. Aucher-Éloy crossed rivers that were potentially inhabited by Paracobitis until he left Qom. It seems highly probable that Aucher-Éloy and Dufaud collected their Paracobitis specimens in the Namak basin and did so in the northern tributaries of the lake in the present-day Alborz province. This is because Dufaud died before they reached Qom, the next locality where they might have collected Paracobitis . The two syntypes, still extant at MNHN, are indistinguishable from the Paracobitis species found in the Lake Namak basin.

Further reading. Aucher-Éloy 1843 (travel description); Freyhof et al. 2014b (identification).

Paracobitis molavii ; Sirvan drainage, Iraq; 56 mm SL.