Garra sahilia, Krupp, 1983

Freyhof, JÖrg, Yoğurtçuoğlu, Baran, Jouladeh-Roudbar, Arash & Kaya, Cüneyt, 2025, Handbook of Freshwater Fishes of West Asia, De Gruyter : 214

Garra sahilia

Common name. Coastal garra.

Diagnosis. Distinguished from other species of Garra in Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Dhofar (Oman) by: ● dorsal membranes dark-grey or black / ○ 32−36 total lateral-line scales / ○ 16−17, rarely 15 or 18, circumpeduncular scales / ○ usually 8½ branched dorsal rays / ○ 11−16 gill rakers on lower limb of first gill arch, 6−10 in Saudi Arabian populations / ○ groove between tip of snout and nostrils shallow or absent / ○ eye fully developed. Size up to 129 mm SL.

Distribution . Yemen and Saudi Arabia: streams flowing to Gulf of Aden and southern Red Sea coast. Yemen: Wadis Bana, al Kabir, Lahej, Tiban, Murlwani, Maur, and others. Found up to 1130 m above sea level. Saudi Arabia: Wadis Minshah, Daga, Gaanah, north of Jizan, Sharfa, from 100−300 m above sea level.

Habitat. Wadis with high seasonal fluctuations in discharge.

Biology. No data.

Conservation status. LC.

Remarks. Molecular data suggest that this species is more closely related to the Anatolian and Mesopotamian Garra than to other species from the western Arabian Peninsula. The Saudi Arabian populations are described as Garra sahilia gharbia . They may represent a separate species, distinguished by having 6–10 gill rakers on the lower limb of first gill arch, whereas Garra s. sahilia has 11–16 gill rakers. Further reading. Krupp 1983 (description); Hamidan et al. 2014 (phylogeny); Freyhof et al. 2020 (distribution, identification).

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Distribution