Luciobarbus barbulus (Heckel, 1847)

Luciobarbus barbulus (Heckel, 1847) View in CoL

Distribution in the area. Not endemic. Widespread in the Euphrates and Tigris drainages. It was also known from the Qweik River, where it is now extirpated.

Taxonomic notes. This species is often identified as L. pectoralis which is endemic to the Mediterranean Sea basin, where it is found in the Orontes, Ceyhan, Seyhan, and Göksu Rivers. There are no confirmed records of L. pectoralis from the Euphrates and Tigris drainages. Luciobarbus barbulus is identified as L. mystaceus in large parts of its range. Luciobarbus mystaceus has been described by Pallas (1814) from the Kura River in Georgia and this species is a synonym of L. capito . Authors such as Karaman (1971) and Almaça (1983, 1991) refer the species description of B. mystaceus to Heckel (1843), who only identified some barbels from Mesopotamia as B. mystaceus , but did not describe the species. Barbus rajanorum described from “Aleppo” is a hybrid of L. barbulus and Capoeta damascina .