Int. J. Aquat. Biol. (2014) 2(1): 27-28 E-ISSN: 2322-5270; P-ISSN: 2383-0956 Journal homepage: www.ij-aquaticbiology.com © 2014 Iranian Society of Ichthyology Short Communication First record of the loach fish Paracobitis cf. malapterura in the Kavir basin, northern Iran Saber Vatandoust1, Arash Joladeh Roudbar2, Hamed Mousavi-Sabet*31 1 Department of Fisheries, Babol Branch, Islamic Azad University, Mazandarn, Iran. 2Department of Animal Science and Fisheries, Sari University of Agriculture Sciences and Natural Resources, Mazandran, Iran. 3Department of Fisheries, Faculty of Natural Resources, University of Guilan, Sowmeh Sara, Guilan, Iran. Abstract: The loach fish Paracobitis cf. malapterura Valenciennes, 1846 (Nemacheilidae), formerly believed to be an endemic species in the Caspian Sea basin, was recorded for the first time in the upper Kavir basin. This extension of its recorded range makes it likely that it has been overlooked in other parts of the Kavir basin. Keywords: Nam River, Iran, Zoogeography, Nemacheilidae Article history: Received 2 January 2014 Accepted 15 February 2014 Available online 25 February 2014 Accepted 14 April 2013 Available online 2 5 April 2014 Introduction There are six valid species of the genus Paracobitis Bleeker, 1863 in Iran (Kottelat, 2012; Coad, 2014). From these valid species, Paracobitis iranica Nalbant and Bianco, 1998 is known from the Namak Lake basin, Paracobitis longicauda Kessler, 1872 is found in the Tedzhen and Murgab rivers of Afghanistan and Turkmenistan and in the Aral Sea basin, and in the Tedzhen (= Hari) River basin of Iran, Paracobitis malapterura Valenciennes, 1846 is found in the southern Caspian Sea basin, Paracobitis rhadinaea Regan, 1906 is restricted to the Sistan basin, Paracobitis smithi Greenwood, 1976 is found only from a cave in Lorestan Province in the Tigris River basin, and Paracobitis vignai Nalbant and Bianco, 1998 is endemic to Sistan basin (Nalbant and Bianco, 1998; Coad, 2014). And now the present study confirms the presence of the crested loach Paracobitis cf. malapterura for the first time in Nam River, Kavir Basin. Materials and methods The study was conducted in Nam River (35°44’44"N 052°34'23"E; 1975 m altitude), in Tehran Province. * Corresponding author: Hamed Mousavi-Sabet E-mail address: mousavi-sabet@guilan.ac.ir The river flows into the Kavir basin. The specimens were collected by electrofishing and were preserved into 4% formaldehyde. Results Fourteen specimens of Paracobitis cf. malapterura (Fig. 1) were found on 16 August 2012 in the Nam River near the city Firouzkuh in the province of Tehran, northern Kavir basin, Iran (35°44’44"N 052°34'23"E). The body proportions and meristic counts of the preserved specimens agree well with the available keys of Paracobitis malapterura (Coad, 2014). The reported species was not previously recorded from the Kavir basin, and this constitutes new record. Discussion The new record of the genus Paracobitis and the species P. malapterura is the first in the basin of Kavir for the genus and the first outside the basin of Caspian Sea for the species. Considering the large distance between all the reported sampling localities of the genus Paracobitis, the fishes can be expected 28 Vatandoust et al. / Int. J. Aquat. Biol. (2014) 2(1): 27-28 to occur more widely in Iranian basins than is known today. Acknowledgements We would like to express our sincere thanks to Hamid Reza Bagherpour for his help in specimen collection. References Coad B.W. (2014). Freshwater Fishes of Iran (Available at http://www.briancoad.com) (accessed on 10 December 2013). Kottelat M. (2012). Conspectus cobitidum: an inventory of the loaches of the world (Teleostei: Cypriniformes: Cobitoidei). The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology, 26(Suppl.): 1-199. Nalbant T., Bianco P. (1998). The loaches of Iran and adjacent regions with description of six new species (Cobitoidea). Italian Journal of Zoology, 65: 109-123. Figure 1. Paracobitis cf. malapterura from Nam River in the Kavir basin, northern Iran.