Luciobarbus pectoralis ( Heckel, 1843 )

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 : 17

Luciobarbus pectoralis ( Heckel, 1843) [N]—Heckel’s Orontes barbel

Taxonomy. Original description: Barbus pectoralis Heckel, 1843: 1045 [55] [Orontes River, Syria; holotype:?NMW 54474].— Iraq synonyms: None.—Revisions: None.—Illustration: Heckel (1843: pl. 2 (fig. 2)) as Barbus pectoralis .

Status in Iraq. Recorded from Iraq in original description by Heckel (1843).—Iraq materials: NMW.

Distribution and habitat. Distribution in Iraq: Euphrates River system.—General distribution: Euphrates River and Orontes River system in Turkey and Syria; Mediterranean watersheds.—Habitat: This species inhabits a wide range of rivers and larger streams and also occurs in reservoirs, from which it migrates to inflowing streams and rivers for spawning. Freshwater.

Economic importance. Commercially important.

Conservation. Conservation Status in Iraq: Unknown.—IUCN: LC (IUCN 2023).—Threats: There are many threats in the area, especially in Asi drainage where this species has lost major part of its range due to massive pollution and water abstraction. However, these threats are not strong enough all over the range to really affect this species.—Low sensitivity to human activities.—Keystone species.—Decline status: Stable.—Low priority for conservation action.