Aphanius sophiae (Heckel, 1847)

Jouladeh-Roudbar, Arash, Ghanavi, Hamid Reza & Doadrio, Ignacio, 2020, Fig. 4 in Fig. 4 in Fig. 3 in Fig. 21. Sesarmops mora n in Paralbunea dayriti, Zoological Studies 59 (21), pp. 1-303 : 265-267

Aphanius sophiae (Heckel, 1847) – Endemic ( Fig. 486 )

Lebias crystallodon Heckel [J. J.] 1847: 269; Type locality: Nemek- Deria Lake , below Schiraz, Iran. Holotype (unique): NMW 15175 .

Lebias punctatus Heckel [J. J.] 1847: 268; Type locality: Nemek- Deria or Salt Lake, flowing into the Saadi below Schiraz, Iran. Syntypes: NMW 15070 (5), 15156 (14), 59609 (6), 59837 (5), 76509 (7).

Cyprinodon pluristriatus Jenkins [J. T.] 1910: 125; Type locality: East of Shiraz, stream running to Fussa [Fasa], southern Iran, elevation 5,000 feet. Syntypes: ZSI F9408–9411 (4), F9412 (?).

Aphanius mesopotamicus Coad [B. W.] 2009: 150; Type locality: Khuzestan, canal branch of Karkheh River, 31°40'N, 48°35'E, Iran. Holotype: CMNFI 1979–0360A. Paratypes: (37) at BMNH, CMNFI and ZISP.

Aphanius kavirensis Esmaeili [H. R.], Teimori [A.], Gholami [Z.] & Reichenbacher [B.] 2014: 259; Type locality: Semnan, Damghan, Cheshmeh Ali Spring, Kavir Basin, 36°16'45.6"N, 54°05'01.6"E, Iran, altitude 1,569 m. Holotype: ZM-CBSU 9587a. Paratypes: ZM-CBSU 9587b, 9587–9600, 1141–1199, 11200 (74).

Common name: Pr: Gormahi kor, En: Kor tooth-carp.

Diagnosis: The large, dark, usually lozengeshaped spot at the caudal fin base in females with fine spotting on the flanks is distinctive.

Meristic characters: D: 11–15, A: 10–11, P: 14– 19, V: 5–6, LS: 25–31, GR: 10–13, FB: 10–21.

Distribution: Kor and Persis basins ( Fig. 487). Found in Maloosjan spring and Kor River. According to Esmaeili et al. (2017) translocated to the Persis basin.

Taxonomy: Berg (1949) placed in Aphanius . A. sophiae complex in Iran comprises three species: A. pluristriatus (Jenkins 1910) which is described from a stream close to Fasa, Persis basin; A. mesopotamicus Coad, 2009 from Karkheh River, Tigris basin; and A. kavirensis Esmaeili, Teimori, Gholami and Reichenbacher, 2014 from Cheshmeh Ali Spring, Kavir Basin. Coad (1991) considered A. pluristriatus as synonym of A. sophiae but Esmaeili et al. (2012) regarded it as a valid species. These species have a close genetic distance (See Esmaeili et al. 2014). Aphanius species usually present very diverse body form and coloration patterns. As an example, in a small population of A. sophiae , it is possible to find several color patterns and big differences between individuals. Or in another example, several coloration patterns of a single species are showed in Freyhof et al. (2017b). These differences are higher in case of populations of the same species from different basins. In our opinion, A. pluristriatus , A. mesopotamicus and A. kavirensis with very low amount of genetic and morphological differences should be considered as the same species. Thus, we treat A. pluristriatus , A. mesopotamicus and A. kavirensis as synonym of A. sophiae .

Conservation: IUCN: Not Evaluated, PC: Least Concern. This species is widely distributed in Iran, occurs in more then 10 independent populations and is not believed to decline fast enough to qualify for a NT or a threatened category. Therefore, we classified it as Least Concern.

Figures

Fig. 486. Aphanius sophiae (above: female, below: male). Photograph from Maloosjan spring, Kor basin.