Paraphanius, Esmaeili, Teimori, Zarei & Sayyadzadeh, 2020

Freyhof, JÖrg, Yoğurtçuoğlu, Baran, Jouladeh-Roudbar, Arash & Kaya, Cüneyt, 2025, Handbook of Freshwater Fishes of West Asia, De Gruyter : 747-748

Paraphanius

Paraphanius comprises seven species, plus one undescribed, that are all superficially similar but well distinguished by molecular characters. Paraphanius species are particularly diverse in the Eastern Mediterranean, especially in the Levant.One species, P.mento , is distributed across the Levant, the upper Euphrates and Tigris, where it appears to have a localised distribution pattern. Further studies are required to determine whether this species represents a complex of closely related species.

Further reading. Esmaeili et al. 2020b (description of Paraphanius ); Freyhof & Yoğurtçuoğlu 2020 (generic structure of Aphaniidae ).

Key to species of Paraphanius

The key is only suitable for adult fishes, ideally nuptial females and males, larger than 30 mm SL.

1a - Adult male with silvery, very narrow, vertical lines on flank. ………………2

1b - Adult male with silvery spots on flank, often organised in fuzzy, vertical series but not in lines (juvenile males of all species often with lines). ………………3

2a - Adults very large, often more than 60 mm SL; lower jaw strongly upturned; in male, silvery lines irregularly shaped, often interrupted; background colour greenish, greyish or dark-blue in male, upper part of head and back, not orange. ……………… P. mentoides

2b - Adults small, rarely more than 40 mm SL; lower jaw slightly upturned; silvery lines regularly shaped, rarely interrupted in male; background colour bright blue in male, with an orange upper part of head and anterior back. ……………… P. striptus

3a - Female without midlateral stripe or pale-brown marbled pattern on flank. ………………4

3b –Female with pale-brown marbled pattern on flank and a midlateral, pale-brown stripe between vertical of dorsal base and caudal base. ………………5

4a - Silvery scales on caudal peduncle not in regular lines in female; silvery spots organised in vertical rows in male. ……………… P. similis

4b - Silvery scales on caudal peduncle in regular lines in female; silvery spots not organised in vertical rows in male (characters poorly known and very different in different populations). ……………… P. mento

5a - Silvery spots distinct, well isolated from each other, not organised in vertical rows in adult male (in rows in juveniles). ……………… P. orontis

5b - Silvery spots often fused and usually organised in vertical rows in juvenile and adult male. ………………6

6a - Female without marbled pattern on back; usually with single pale-brown dots in middle of scales. ……………… P. alexandri

6b - Female with marbled pattern on back; usually without pale-brown dots in middle of scales. ……………… P. boulengeri