Mugil cephalus Linnaeus, 1758

Çiçek, Erdoğan, Jawad, Laith, Eagderi, Soheil, Esmaeili, Hamid Reza, Mouludi-Saleh, Atta, Sungur, Sevil & Fricke, Ronald, 2023, Freshwater fishes of Iraq: a revised and updated annotated checklist- 2023, Zootaxa 5357 (1), pp. 1-49 : 31

Mugil cephalus Linnaeus, 1758 [N]—Flathead mullet

Taxonomy. Original description: Mugil cephalus Linnaeus, 1758: 316 [European sea, Europe; syntypes: NRM 43 (1), 44 (2), 143 (1)].— Iraq synonyms: None.—Revisions: Thomson (1997: 483).— Illustration: Ben-Tuvia in Whitehead et al. (1986: 1202, fig.) .

Status in Iraq. First record from Iraq by Mahdi (1971); confirmed by Jawad (2021).—Iraq materials: None.

Distribution and habitat. Distribution in Iraq: Persian Gulf.—General distribution: Nearly circumglobal in temperate and tropical seas and estuaries (including Gulf of Mexico, Mediterranean Sea, Sea of Marmara, Black Sea, Red Sea, Persian Gulf, Sea of Japan); introduced elsewhere.—Habitat: This is a euryhaline, pelagic nearshore species that sometimes forages in lagoons, estuaries, and lower courses of rivers and can tolerate freshwater. It inhabits inshore marine waters, estuaries, lagoons, and rivers, where it can tolerate wide ranges of temperature and salinity. Freshwater, brackish, marine.

Economic importance. Commercially important.

Conservation. Conservation Status in Iraq: Unknown.—IUCN: LC (IUCN 2023).—Threats: No major threats known.—Low sensitivity to human activities.—Not considered a keystone species.—Decline status: Stable.—Low priority for conservation action.