Garra sharq, Kirchner, Kruckenhauser, Pichler, Borkenhagen & Freyhof, 2020

Garra sharq View in CoL View Figure

Common name. Dayqah garra.

Diagnosis. Distinguished from other species of Garra in Hajar Mountains by: ○ strongly mottled flank pattern with individual or series of orange midlateral scales / ○ no orange spot at upper opercle / ○ tip of dorsal not white / ○ membranes between central caudal rays black, not silvery / ○ 10–14 gill rakers on lower limb of first gill arch / ○ eye fully developed. Size up to 50 mm SL, likely to grow larger.

Distribution View Figure . Oman: Wadi Dayqah drainage, including wadis Tayyin, Deema, and Khabbah, flowing to coast entering sea at Daghmar. Also, in isolated falaj systems and springs in endorheic basin north of Wahiba Sands.

Habitat View Figure . Mountain wadis, streams, falaj systems, and springs with freshwater, gravel, or bedrock bottoms. Usually in slow-flowing water.

Biology. Feeds on periphyton and detritus.

Conservation status. EN; significant decline due to water abstraction and expected further decline due to climate change.

Remarks. The distribution of this species in Wadi Dayqah drainage and adjacent endorheic basins suggests recent connections between two watersheds, allowing the invasion of G. sharq . While G. sharq occurs in upper Wadi Dayn and in falaj systems of town of Al-Mintirib, other falaj systems in area are occupied by G. gallagheri . As the Garra from Wadi Dayn and Al-Mintirib have only been examined for molecular characters, we cannot exclude the possibility that both species are sympatric or that these are hybrid populations between the two species.

Further reading. Pichler et al. 2018 (morphology); Kirchner et al. 2020 (description); Freyhof et al. 2020 (distribution, identification).