Acanthobrama hadiyahensis, Coad, Alkahem & Behnke, 1983

Freyhof, JÖrg, Yoğurtçuoğlu, Baran, Jouladeh-Roudbar, Arash & Kaya, Cüneyt, 2025, Handbook of Freshwater Fishes of West Asia, De Gruyter : 275-276

Acanthobrama hadiyahensis

Common name. Arabian bream.

Diagnosis. Distinguished from superficially similar species of Carasobarbus and Cyprinion in Arabian Peninsula by: ○ last unbranched dorsal ray without serrae, thickened and very strong / ● no barbels / ● pharyngeal teeth in one row / ● 14–17½ branched anal rays / ○ 54−58 total lateral-line scales / ○ 17−19 gill rakers. Size up to 80 mm SL.

Distribution. Saudi Arabia: springs of Wadi Hadiyah in Khaibar area and Qusaiba’a reservoir in northern Hijaz.

Habitat. Springs and river, also reported from a reservoir.

Biology. No data.

Conservation status. EN; appears to be declining within its very small range. Known from three localities, only one been confirmed in last 30 years. Threatened by water abstraction and construction of dams and reservoirs.

Remarks. Acanthobrama hadiyahensis is closely related to A. marmid . The two species may only have diverged in post-glacial times when a river flowing from the mountains of western Saudi Arabia to the southernmost Shatt al-Arab dried up.

Further reading. Coad et al. 1983 (description); Coad 2010b (conservation); Hamidan & Aloufi 2013 (new record).

Acanthobrama lissneri ; Nahr al-Yarmuk, Syria; ~ 70 mm SL.