Luciobarbus mursa (Guldenstadt, 1773)

Freyhof, JÖrg, Yoğurtçuoğlu, Baran, Jouladeh-Roudbar, Arash & Kaya, Cüneyt, 2025, Handbook of Freshwater Fishes of West Asia, De Gruyter : 236-237

Luciobarbus mursa

Common name. Mursa.

Diagnosis. Distinguished from other species of Luciobarbus in Caspian basin and Hari drainage by: ● lower lip thick and fleshy, with median lobe or pad / ● 83–103 total lateral-line scales / ○ 8½ branched dorsal rays / ● back between head and dorsal origin not or slightly compressed / ○ colouration of back and belly not sharply contrasted / ○ predorsal length equal or longer than postdorsal length / ○ body plain brown in life. Size up to about 400 mm SL.

Distribution. Kura and Aras drainages east to Gorgan.

Habitat. Wide range of streams and rivers with fast to moderately fast-flowing water. Also, in lakes and reservoirs, from where fish migrate to rivers and streams to spawn.

Biology. Spawns first time at 2−3 years, females later than males, between April and August. Migrates to uppermost tributaries of rivers to spawn in fast-flowing water on gravel. Feeds on invertebrates, algae, detritus, plant material, and small fish.

Conservation status. VU; important commercial species, particularly prized in Georgia and severely overfished, especially in Kura and Aras.

Remarks. Reports from Urmia basin ( Iran) have yet to be confirmed and are probably mistaken.

Further reading. Berg 1949b (identification, distribution); Bogutskaya et al. 2003b (biology); Kaya et al. 2020a (distribution); Coad 2021a (biology, morphology).

Luciobarbus pectoralis ; Orontes drainage, Syria; 190 mm SL.