IRANIAN JOURNAL OF ICHTHYOLOGY
Year:2016 | Volume:3 | Issue:3 |Papers Count:7

The systematics, morphology, distribution, biology, economic importance and conservation of the pike (Esox lucius) of Iran are described, the species is illustrated, and a bibliography on this fish in Iran is provided. There is one native species in the Caspian Sea basin, introduced elsewhere in Iran. The family is characterized by a flattened, elongate, duck-billed snout, dorsal and anal fins far back on the body near the tail, no adipose fin, teeth on the tongue and on the basibranchial bones behind the tongue are small, jaws have large teeth, branchiostegal rays 10-20, nasal bones are present, the swim bladder is connected to the gut by a duct, intermuscular bones are forked or Y-shaped, no fin spines, pelvic fins are abdominal, cycloid scales, the infraorbital sensory canal on the head has 8 or more pores, gill rakers are present as sharp denticles in patches, no pyloric caeca, the lateral line is complete, and the forked caudal fin has mostly 17 branched rays. Esox lucius is distinguished from other Iranian freshwater fish species by the broad and flat snout and position of the dorsal and anal fins being far back on the body. Esox lucius is distributed across northern Eurasia and northern North America. Iranian populations are at the southern edge of the range for this species.

Species of the genus Aphanius are known for their attractive color pattern. They are also suitable biological tool for controlling of mosquito. For that reason, they could be potential candidates to be translocated from natural environments to artificial man-made environments such as aquarium, canals and pools. In present paper, morphometric, morphological and molecular evidences as well as fish external morphology suggest the translocation of native Aphanius populations (belong to A. dispar group) between different drainages in Iran. The results indicate that A. dispar found in a man-made pool in Kahnuj city, and in man-made canals in Bandar Abbas city had been introduced. It has already been documented that populations from south, southeastern and southwestern Iran probably are distinct; therefore, translocation of the individuals between these genetically divergent populations probably have adverse effects through the loss of genetic diversity, and also make their taxonomic relationships difficult to understand.

The genus Alburnus (Cyprinidae) is distributed in Europe and northern southwest Asia with about 38 species among which seven species are present in Iran. In this study 229 specimens of Alburnus mossulensis were collected from eight rivers of Tigris sub basin which drain into the Persian Gulf, and were fixed in %10 formalin for further investigation. Eighteen morphometric and 12 meristic characters of the each specimen and their weight were measured. Morphometric characters in ratio method and meristic characters in classification method were used for population comparison. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed significant differences (P<0. 05) in all population in all morphometric characters, except interorbital depth/head width. Classification of meristic characters showed most specimens of all populations has eight soft rays in dorsal fin, 10 soft rays in anal fin, 19 soft rays in caudal fin, 15 soft rays in pectoral fin, nine soft rays in pelvic fin, 2. 4. 5-5. 4. 2 formula in Pharyngeal teeth type, and 42 vertebrae. ANOVA showed significant differences (P<0. 05) in means of all meristic characters among the populations. DFA analysis showed a low degree of separation among four populations of Abdanan, Leileh, Little Zab and Shoisheh from each other, but high separation from other population and high separation among the other populations of A. mossulensis.

This study investigated the growth performance, nutrients utilization and haematology of Clarias gariepinus juveniles fed with graded activated charcoal (AC) in rice husk (RH) diet. Eight diets were formulated; control diet 1 (without RH and AC), control diet 2 (+AC), diet 3 (2. 5%RH), diet 4 (2. 5%RH+AC), diet 5 (5. 0%RH), diet 6 (5. 0%RH+AC), diet 7 (7. 5% RH), diet 8 (7. 5%RH+AC). Diets were fed to triplicate groups of ten fish per tank thrice daily to satiation for eight weeks. Fish fed Diet 4 recorded highest values for mean weight gain (MWG) (75. 71± 1. 76g), Specific Growth Rate or SGR (2. 40± 0. 03%/day) and Protein E f f i c i e n c y R a t i o ( PER) (3. 22± 0. 15) while fish fed Diet 7 had the least values for Mean Weight Gain or MWG (59. 50± 1. 21g), SGR (2. 09± 0. 03g) and PER (2. 39± 0. 10). The AFI didn’ t record significant difference (P>0. 05) while FCR had significant difference (P<0. 05) across diets, with Diet 4 having the best value for Feed Conversion Ratio or FCR (0. 86± 0. 04). Diets of RH lowered the cholesterol, Packed Cell Volume (PCV) and Haemoglobin (Hb), levels in the experimental fish though, the inclusion of AC to the test diets resulted in a non-significant increase in the levels of these parameters. The values of White Blood Cells (WBC) and White Blood Cells (RBC) did not show significant differences (P>0. 05) amongst diets however, diets 1 and 2 recorded the highest values for WBC (14500± 707. 11) and RBC (6. 15± 0. 91) with the least values (9000± 2828. 43, 5. 15± 0. 21, respectively) for these parameters recorded with diets 3 and 7. The improved growth recorded at 2. 5% inclusion level of AC suggests that activated charcoal could favourably be added to the feed of C. gariepinus juveniles.

This research was conducted to study the body shape changes in common carp, Cyprinus carpio var. Sazan during early developmental stages using landmarkbased geometric morphometric method. For this purpose, a total number of 210 larvae from hatching time till 55 days post hatching (dph) were sampled. For extracting body shape data, the right side of specimens was photographed and nine landmark-points were defined and digitized on 2D pictures using tpsDig2 software. After GPA, the landmark data were analyzed using Relative Warp analysis, regression of shape on total length and cluster analysis. The results showed that change of body shape in common carp during early development includes (1) increase in the head depth, and trunk length from hatching up to 8 dph, (2) increase in the body depth, and the head and tail lengths from 8-20 dph, and (3) increase in the head length and depth from 20-55 dph. The cluster analysis was revealed that larval stages can be divided into four phases, including eleuthero-embryonic, larva, younger juvenile and juvenile. Based on our finding, the body shape changes of this species during early development is due to adjusting of vital priority.

Wular wetland, a Ramsar Site in Kashmir Himalayas supports rich fishery of native snow trouts and hereby we report the fish fauna of this wetland. Also two exotic species are reported from this site for the first time. This wetland is threatened by point and non-point sources of pollution and also disturbances in the catchment areas with deforestation.

Fish species diversity in Dalaki and Helleh Rivers which are parts of the Persis basin of Bushehr Province, was investigated from January 2013 to February 2014. Twelve species belonging to 6 families (Cyprinidae, Sisoridae, Mastacembelidae, Gobiidae, Mugilidae and Sparidae) were identified. The results indicated that Cyprinidae has the most frequencies in Dalaki River and Mugilidae has the most frequencies in Helleh River. Mastacembelidae and Sisoridae families in Dalaki River have the least frequencies and Mastacembelidae and Cyprinidae families have the least frequencies in Helleh River. Capoeta saadii with 33% in Dalaki River and Planiliza abu with 36% in Helleh River have the most frequencies, Mastacembelus mastacembelus and Glyptothorax silviae with 2% in Dalaki River and finally M. mastacembelus and Cyprinus carpio with 1% in Helleh River have the least frequencies. Based on the Shannon species diversity index, the most diversity of species in Dalaki and Helleh Rivers was found to be in July and August 2013.