Capoeta damascina (Valenciennes, 1842)

Freyhof, JÖrg, Yoğurtçuoğlu, Baran, Jouladeh-Roudbar, Arash & Kaya, Cüneyt, 2025, Handbook of Freshwater Fishes of West Asia, De Gruyter : 128-129

Capoeta damascina

Common name. Levantine scraper .

Diagnosis. Distinguished from other species of Capoeta in Mediterranean, Damascus, and Dead Sea basins, Lake Van basin, Euphrates, and Tigris (except Karkheh and Karun) by: ○ flank beige, golden, or brown without small black spots, juveniles and some adults individuals with large black blotches / ○ last unbranched dorsal ray weakly to moderately ossified and serrated / ○ 8½–10½, usually 9½ branched dorsal rays / ○ usually 61–82 total lateral-line scales, many individuals have 80–104 total lateral-line scales in Tigris and Euphrates / ○ 11–20 scales between lateral line and dorsal origin / ○ 7.5–14.5 scales between lateral line and pelvic origin / ○ 23–34 circumpeduncular scales / ○ usually 18–23 gill rakers, 12–18 gill rakers on lower limb, 12–15 in Damascus basin / ○ one pair of barbels / ○ last unbranched dorsal ray shorter than head / ○ usually 18–25 scales above lateral line / ○ 11.5–15.5 scales below lateral line / ○ 31–39 circumpeduncular scales. Size up to 450 mm SL.

Distribution . Seyhan, Ceyhan, and Orontes southwards to Litani in Lebanon. Damascus and Qweiq endorheic basins, Jordan drainage, and major tributaries of Dead Sea (such as Moujib and Hasa). Euphrates and Tigris, including tributaries of Lake Van. Absent from Iranian rivers flowing into Persian Gulf south of Karun, except Dez, a tributary of Karun. Absent from other parts of Karun and Karkheh.

Habitat. A wide range of running waters, lakes, and reservoirs with (seasonally) inflowing rivers or streams. Occupies cold headwaters of mountain zones, medium-sized rivers, springs, and associated wetlands, down to small wadis and brackish desert streams. Spawns on gravel, wave-washed lake shores, and spring discharge horizons. Larvae and juveniles inhabit riparian habitats.

Biology. Lives up to 12 years. Spawns first time at 130−200 mm SL, usually matures at 2 (males) and 4 (females) years. Spawns May−June or late July ( Lebanon), January−March or May (upper Jordan). Migrates regionally from lakes to rivers to spawn. In upper Jordan, migrates in December−February to spawning areas in upper reaches. Rainfall, flooding, and a drop in water temperature trigger migration. Several males usually follow a female to spawn. Eggs are sticky and are deposited in gravel excavated by female during spawning. Eggs poisonous. Adults migrate downstream after spawning. Juveniles have many dark brown blotches on a silvery or golden background. Feeds on detritus, periphyton, and invertebrates.

Conservation status. LC.

Remarks. Reported from an oasis on Sinai Peninsula, where it may have been introduced (but now extirpated). Despite its wide distribution, recent molecular studies involving fish across its range have not revealed a strong phylogeographic structure. Capoeta kosswigi from Lake Van basin and C. angorae from Seyhan and Ceyhan are syn- onyms. Capoeta pyragyi , described from the Dez, a tribu- tary of Karun in Iran, is identical to C. damascina by its COI DNA sequences, and all morphological characters given in original description overlap with those of C. damascina . It is also treated as a synonym.

In the Tigris, high-scale count individuals (80–104, total lateral-line scales) occur in pure populations or syntopy with low-scale count individuals (61–82). In the Euphra- tes, no pure high-scale count populations have (yet) been reported, but low and high-scale count individuals often occur in syntopy, whereas in the Mediterranean, only low- scale count fish have been found. The high-scale count individuals are often recognised as a separate species, C. umbla . High and low-scale-count fish are not distin- guished by their COI DNA sequences (but few individuals differ slightly in their LSU sequences), all other meristic characters overlap, and high and low-scale-count individuals are superficially very similar in all other characters. Furthermore, the distribution of scale numbers in Van Lake basin bridges the gap between C. damascina and “ C. umbla . ” The background of this situation has yet to be understood. A first hypothesis is that they are two species often found in sympatry; intermediate individuals could be hybrids, and the lack of COI DNA sequences could be due to introgressive hybridisation. The overall high similarity of both “species” and their syntopic occurrence challenge this view. Such superficially similar and closely related species only rarely occur in syntopy, and it is difficult to imagine that this is the case for Capoeta , which is known to hybrid- ise even with sympatric other Capoeta and Luciobarbus species. Alternatively, the often bimodal scale numbers in syntopic fishes may indicate that scale number inheritance may be associated with two alternative haplotypes leading to either high- or low-scale numbers rather than intermediate scale numbers, as expected in hybrids. This hypothesis suggests a species that occurs in individuals with high- or low-scale numbers, both in mixed and pure populations. Until this hypothesis is rejected, we treat C. umbla and C. damascina as conspecifics.

Further reading. Türkmen et al. 2002 (biology); Alwan 2010 (revision of C. damascina group); Alwan et al. 2016b (morphology, phylogeny); Esmaeili et al. 2016a (description, molecular phylogeny); Kaya et al. 2016 (distribution); Zareian & Esmaeili 2017 (description); Jouladeh-Roudbar et al. 2017c (description); Kaya 2019 (distribution); Coad 2021a (biology, morphology).

Figures

Capoeta damascina

Levantine scraper

Distribution