Alburnus caeruleus, Heckel, 1843

Freyhof, JÖrg, Yoğurtçuoğlu, Baran, Jouladeh-Roudbar, Arash & Kaya, Cüneyt, 2025, Handbook of Freshwater Fishes of West Asia, De Gruyter : 312

Alburnus caeruleus

Common name. Black spotted bleak.

Diagnosis. Distinguished from other species of Alburnus in Persian Gulf, Qweiq, Lake Van, and Iranian endorheic basins by: ● body mottled with isolated or small groups of black pigmented scales, bluish black with silvery blotches in nuptial males / ○ anal origin below dorsal base / ○ 13–17½ branched anal rays / ○ 8–12 gill rakers / ○ 43–58 total lateral line scales / ○ ventral keel fully exposed or covered by few scales on its anterior part / ○ body depth at dorsal origin 26–34 % SL. Size up to 101 mm SL.

Distribution. Qweiq, Euphrates, and Tigris drainages, including Karun and Jarahi in Iran.

Habitat. Streams, rivers, and lakes with moderate to slow currents. Likely to be sensitive to low temperatures.

Biology. No data.

Conservation status. LC; extirpated in Syrian part of Qweiq.

Remarks. Alburnoides recepi is a synonym. Many populations of A. caeruleus share mtDNA with Alburnus sellal , suggesting past hybridisation and DNA introgression between the two species.

Further reading. Turan et al. 2014a (description as A. recepi ); Birecikligil et al. 2017 ( A. recepi as synonym); Freyhof et al. 2018b, Bektaş et al. 2020 (phylogeny, mtDNA introgression).