Int. J. Aquat. Biol. (2018) 6(4): 202-207 DOI: ISSN: 2322-5270; P-ISSN: 2383-0956 Journal homepage: www.ij-aquaticbiology.com © 2018 Iranian Society of Ichthyology Original Article First record of the Amur goby Rhinogobius lindbergi Berg 1933 (Gobiidae) from the Tigris River drainage, Iran Soheil Eagderi*1, Manoochehr Nasri2, Erdoğan Çiçek3 1Department of Fisheries, Faculty of Natural Resources, University of Tehran, Karaj, Iran. 2Department of Fisheries Science and Engineering, Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Lorestan University, Khorramabad, Iran. 3Department of Biology, Faculty of Arts and Science, Nevsehir Haci Bektas Veli University, Nevsehir, Turkey. Article history: Received 22 May 2018 Accepted 17 July 2018 Available online 2 5 August 2018 Keywords: Sirvan River Eivashan River Zoogeography Exotic Abstract: Iran harbors a great faunistic diversity especially in freshwater fishes from different endorheic and exorheic basins with about 32 reported exotic fishes. Fishes are widely introduced and translocated aquatics due to anthropological activities. The present study reports first occurrence of the Amur goby, Rhinogobius lindbergi Berg 1933 (Gobiidae), from the Gaveh River, a tributary of Sirvan River drainage and Eivashan River, a tributary of Kashkan River system. In addition, we present meristic and morphometric data of the specimens herein examined. The collected specimens probably introduced to the rivers along with other exotic species as accidental introduction. Therefore, an effective management strategy required to minimize their negative impacts. Introduction Fishes are widely introduced and translocated aquatics (Esmaeili et al., 2014) by wide ranges of mechanisms such as aquaculture, sport fishing, control of malaria, research and accidental introductions (Coad, 1996; Mooney and Cleland, 2001; Esmaeili et al., 2007, 2011). Iran harbors a great faunistic diversity especially in freshwater fishes with 297 species in 109 genera, 30 families and 24 orders reported from different endorheic and exorheic basins (Esmaeili et al., 2018). About 32 species in 12 families have been introduced or translocated and some of them are well- established in different Iranian water bodies (Khaefi et al., 2014; Esmaeili et al., 2014; Mousavi-Sabet and Eagderi, 2014, 2015; Radkhah et al., 2016). Members of the genus Rhinogobius (Gill, 1859) with 66 species are distributed in Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Hainan, Philippines, China, Russia, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and the Amur River basin of eastern Asia (Chen et al., 2008; Suzuki et al., 2016, Coad 2018; Froese and Pauly; 2016). They are mainly amphidromous, non-diadromous, land-locked, and *Corresponding author: Soheil Eagderi DOI: https://doi.org/10.22034/ijab.v6i4.528 E-mail address: soheil.eagderi@ut.ac.ir fluvial species (Mizuno and Goto, 1987; Iguchi and Mizuno, 1991; Akihito et al., 2002), as well as lake– river migratory and lentic species in Lake Biwa, Japan (Takahashi and Okazaki, 2002). The lake goby, R. similis, has been recorded from different Iranian inland waters, including the Kashaf and Hari rivers, Hari River basin (Coad and Abdoli, 2000), Anzali Wetland, Caspian Sea basin (Coad, 2018), Zarineh River, Urmia Lake basin (Eagderi and Moradi, 2017) and Jajrud River, Namak Lake basin (Eagderi et al., 2017). Shakirova and Sukhanova (1994), Sal'nikov (1995) and Aliev et al. (1988) reported R. similis from some water bodies of Turkmenistan on the east-north borders of Iran. Vasil'eva and Vasil'ev (1995) and Vasil'eva and Kugac (2008) pointed out that the Rhinogobius introduced to Central Asia is R. cheni (Nichols, 1931), a Chinese species of the Yangtze River, and this could be the species found in Iran. Rhinogobius lindbergi Berg 1933 is described species from Amur and Ussuri rivers, Russia and the Iranian specimens probably have been originated from the Amur River basin via 203 Int. J. Aquat. Biol. (2018) 6(4): 202-207 Hari River and all other reported R. similis from Iran could be R. lindbergi. Based on our recent survey, Amur goby, R. lindbergi, was found in the Gaveh and Eivashan Rivers, Tigris river system and probably can be found in Iraq and Turkish inland waters as well. Therefore, this paper is aimed to report the first record of R. lindbergi from Iranian part of the Tigris river drainage by providing meristic and morphometric data of the specimens herein examined. Materials and Methods A total of 15 R. lindbergi were collected from the Gaveh River (34°55'53.6"N 47°13'14.0"E), Kermanshah Province and 8 specimens from the Eivashan River (33°27'43.06"N 48°50'44.21"E), Lorestan Province of Iran by electrofishing device in 15 September 2016 and 1 October 2018, respectively (Fig. 1). The collected specimens were preserved in 5% buffered formaldehyde after anesthetizing and transferred to laboratory for further study. The specimens were identified based on Coad (2016), Chen et al. (2008), Suzuki et al. (2016), and Sakai et al. (2000). Nine meristic characteristics were counted by a stereomicroscope and 31 morphometric features were measured using a caliper to the nearest 0.1 mm (Tables 1, 2). The morphometric data are presented as standard and head lengths. Methods for taking measurements and counts follow Hubbs and Lagler (1958). The specimens were deposited in the Ichthyological Figure 1. Observed distribution of Rhinogobius lindbergi in Kermanshah and Lorestan provinces. Figure 2. Lateral view of Rhinogobius lindbergi from the Eivashan River, Tigris River drainage, Iran. 204 Eagderi et al./ First record of the Amur goby Rhinogobius lindbergi from Iran Museum of Natural Resources Faculty, University of Tehran (IMNRF-UT- 1024). Results The collected specimens ranged 29.5-39.7 mm in Standard Length and the general body shape of the collected Amur goby is displayed in Figure 2. The morphometric and meristic data of the specimens are presented in Tables 1 and 2. Three other exotic fish species, including Hemiculter leucisculus, Pseudorasbora parva and Carassius gibelio along with 10 native fishes, including Alburnus sellal, Barbus lacerta, Capoeta damascina, C. trutta, Cyprinion macrostomum, Garra rufa, Squalius berak, S. lepidus, Oxynoemacheilus sp. and Turcinoemacheilus kosswigi were collected Table 1. Morphometric characteristics of Rhinogobius lindbergi from the Gaveh and Eyvashan Rivers, Tigris basin (min=minimum; max=maximum; SD=Standard Deviation). Gaveh River Eyvashan River Characters Min Max Mean ±S D Min Max Mean ±SD Standard length (mm) 29.5 39.7 30 38 33.4 3.1 % in standard length Body depth maximal 16.2 20.7 17.9 1.3 16.6 17.4 17 0.4 Caudal peduncle depth 9.3 11.2 10.5 0.5 9.1 11.2 10.2 1.1 Predorsal 1 length 34.9 40.5 37.9 1.3 35.9 36.9 36.5 0.5 Postdorsal 1 length 59.2 65.1 62.2 1.7 63.1 64.5 64 0.8 Predorsal 2 length 53.9 58.6 56.6 1.2 56.3 58.6 57.6 1.2 Postdorsal 2 length 40.8 45.1 42.9 1.5 45.3 48.7 47.6 2 Preanal length 60.1 64.5 61.9 1.3 56.8 59 58 1.1 Caudal peduncle length 23.0 27.0 24.8 1.3 26.9 28.6 27.5 1 Dorsal-fin1 base length 10.8 16.5 13.3 1.7 7.3 12 10.1 2.5 Dorsal-fin 1 depth 6.0 13.5 9.8 2.5 11 12.4 11.9 0.8 Dorsal-fin 2 base length 14.6 19.7 16.8 1.9 13.1 18.5 15.3 2.8 Dorsal-fin 2 depth 10.6 15.2 13.1 1.7 11.7 15.7 13.8 2 Anal-fin base length 10.2 17.6 14.6 2.1 10.6 18.4 16.9 1.4 Anal-fin depth 7.2 12.3 10.0 1.9 10.5 13.9 12.4 0.8 Pectoral fin length 14.1 23.0 18.2 2.8 15.4 19.7 17.5 2.1 Pectoral – anal-fin origin distance 28.7 37.7 32.5 2.0 30.1 32.6 31.4 1.3 Caudal-fin length 19.6 26.3 22.1 1.7 19.1 20.7 20.1 0.9 Body width 12.9 16.2 14.9 0.8 15.9 17.6 16.4 1 Caudal width 3.0 5.4 3.9 0.6 4.2 4.7 4.5 0.3 Pelvic fin width 9.8 17.1 13.9 2.3 9.1 14.7 12.3 2.1 Pelvic fin length 16.6 20.4 18.6 1.2 16 17.9 16.8 1 Head length (HL) 23.2 29.9 27.0 2.2 24 26.1 25.2 1.8 % in head length Snout length 22.5 32.5 27.6 2.6 29.7 31.9 30.4 1.3 Eye horizontal diameter 12.2 22.5 17.8 3.1 12.4 18.3 16.7 3.1 Postorbital distance 45.1 64.8 56.9 4.6 55.5 59.1 57.1 1.8 Head depth at nape 61.2 75.3 67.7 4.9 59.4 80.1 66.6 11.7 Head depth through eye 48.1 62.2 53.5 4.0 48.5 52.9 50.4 2.3 Mouth width 35.2 62.0 45.6 7.8 32.6 61.6 43.2 8.2 Interorbital 7.6 15.5 9.9 2.2 8.1 11.6 10.3 2.7 Head width 56.3 85.0 69.5 9.8 66.3 69.5 67.8 1.6 205 Int. J. Aquat. Biol. (2018) 6(4): 202-207 during sampling in Gaveh River. In addition, two other exotic fish species viz. Cyprinus carpio and Oncorhynchus mykiss along with 6 native species including A. sellal, C. shajariani, C. aculeate, C. macrostomum, G. rufa and Chondrostoma regium were sampled from the Eivashan River. Discussion Rhinogobius lindbergi is native to the lower and middle portion of the Amur River (Novomodny et al., 2004), and was previously known to extend upstream only to the vicinity of the mouth of the Bidzhan River, Russia (Neely et al., 2008). Rhinogobius lindbergi is distinguished by having 27 vertebrae, two preopercular canal pores, 19-20 pectoral-fin rays and I, 9 anal-fin rays (Sakai et al., 2000; Li et al., 2018). The collected specimens have similar morphological characters to those reported for R. lindbergi (Sakai et al., 2000; Li et al., 2018). New record of R. lindbergi from the Gaveh River, a tributary of Sirvan River and Eivashan River, a tributary of Kashkan River, both from Tigris river drainage shows the range extension of this species further to west and southwest from its previous records. The Sirvan River originates near the Hamadan, in the Zagros Mountains of Iran and then runs west mainly through Eastern Iraq and finally feeds into the Tigris below Baghdad but the Eivashan River origins from Zaghe near Khoramabad city, also in Zagros Mountains of Iran and then runs westward to the Karkhe River, Tigris river drainage (Coad, 2018). In total of 14 species were collected from Gave River, four of them are exotic to the river. Also, Hypophthalmichthys molitrix, H. nobilis, and, C. carpio are other exotic species recorded from this river that have been released into the lakes of the Soleimanshah and Gavshan dams, reconstructed on the Gaveh River, by Iranian Fisheries Organization (Alizadeh et al., 2016). In the Eyvashan River, three exotic species, including R. lindbergi, C. carpio and O. mykiss were collected. Therefore, R. lindbergi probably introduced to this river along with commercially important cyprinids as accidental introduction. Introductions are always led to risks for the native biota if species is able to integrate itself successfully into the ecosystem (Gozlan et al., 2009), and also is resulted in possible detrimental interactions with native species (Gozlan et al., 2010; Esmaeili et al., 2014). Therefore, an effective management strategy needs to minimize their negative impacts. Acknowledgments This study was financially supported by the University of Tehran and Lorestan University. References Abdoli A., Coad B., Naderi M. (2000). First record of Rhinogobius similis, Gill 1859 in Iran. Iranian Journal of Fisheries Sciences, 9(1): 73-76. Akihito S.K., Ikeda Y., Sugiyama K. (2002). Suborder Gobioidei. In: T, Nakabo (ed). 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