Oxynoemacheilus galilaeus (Gunther, 1864)

Freyhof, JÖrg, Yoğurtçuoğlu, Baran, Jouladeh-Roudbar, Arash & Kaya, Cüneyt, 2025, Handbook of Freshwater Fishes of West Asia, De Gruyter : 506-507

Oxynoemacheilus galilaeus

Common name. Galilean loach.

Diagnosis. Distinguished from other species of Oxynoemacheilus in southern Levant by: ● 9–11½ branched dorsal rays / ● body scaleless / ○ caudal slightly emarginate or truncate / ○ no dorsal crest on caudal peduncle / ○ suborbital groove absent in male. Size up to 64 mm SL.

Distribution. Syria: Lake Muzayrib basin.

Habitat. Lacustrine, along shores.

Biology. No data.

Conservation status. CR; Lake Muzayrib has been reported to be drying up, and the species may be extinct. No fieldwork has been carried out since 2008 to investigate the situation.

Remarks. Described from Lake Tiberias but later speculated to be from Lake Hula or Lake Muzayrib. The single type specimen corresponds well to the Lake Muzayrib population, while all fish we see from Tiberias and Hula do not. Fish from Hula and Tiberias are similar to the type of

O. galilaeus in being scaleless and in number of anal and dorsal rays (all individuals from Hula are reported to have 6½ branched anal rays). These fish also have a very different colour pattern from O. galilaeus (large spots or bars on the flank vs. fine mottled pattern in O. galilaeus ) and body shape (deep body vs. slender in O. galilaeus ), and we identify them as O. leontinae . Oxynoemacheilus galilaeus is diagnosed by 6½ branched anal rays; this character is variable (Muzayrib), and few individuals have 6½ (including type), most have 5½ branched anal rays. It has been placed in a separate genus: Nun, based on fish from the Hula basin, but as Nun was described based on O. leontinae , this is its type species.

Further reading. Günther 1865 (description); Bănărescu et al. 1982 (description of Nun based on Hula population); Krupp & Schneider 1989 (distribution); Bănărescu & Nalbant 1995 (Figure of Nun); Prokofiev 2009 (osteology of Hula population); Freyhof et al. 2011 (generic placement based on Muzayrib population); Prokofiev & Golubtsov 2013 (revalidation of Nun based on Hula population).

Lake Muzayrib in Syria is the only habitat known for Oxynoemacheilus galilaeus . The lake has been reported to have dried out, and the species might now be extinct.

Oxynoemacheilus germencicus ; Büyük Menderes drainage, Türkiye; ~ 60 mm SL.