Carasobarbus, Karaman, 1971

Freyhof, JÖrg, Yoğurtçuoğlu, Baran, Jouladeh-Roudbar, Arash & Kaya, Cüneyt, 2025, Handbook of Freshwater Fishes of West Asia, De Gruyter : 146-147

Carasobarbus

Carasobarbus are a medium-sized group of barbels known from West Asia and Morocco. They are hexaploid and distinguished by large, shield-shaped scales with numerous parallel radii. The last unbranched dorsal ray is weakly to strongly ossified, without serrae. They have one or two pairs of barbels, 9–11½ branched dorsal rays, and 6½ branched anal rays. Carasobarbus kosswigi and C. sublimus were previously classified in a separate genus, Kosswigobarbus , which was recently synonymised with Carasobarbus . They are most species-rich in the Tigris, where six species are found. In the Arabian Peninsula, two species are known which have close relationships with

Mesopotamian Carasobarbus . Carasobarbus are inhabitants of slow-flowing or stagnant waters, often with much vegetation, while former Kosswigobarbus inhabit large, free-flowing, deep rivers. Some species are large fish that are commercially exploited in many areas. As in many other barbels, their eggs are poisonous. Some people have reported feeling dizzy, having abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea, dry mouth, and faintness after eating a kebab made with about ¼ of an ovary of C. luteus . Further reading. Karaman 1971 (description); Coad 2010a (toxic eggs); Borkenhagen & Krupp 2013 (description); Borkenhagen 2014 (phylogeny); Yang et al. 2015; Borkenhagen 2017 (phylogeny, in tribe Torini ).

Carasobarbus apoensis ; Saudi Arabia; 212 mm SL. © J. Els.