Freshwater lamprey and fishes of Iran: Reappraisal and updated checklist with a note on Eagderi et al. (2022) Author Sayyadzadeh, Golnaz 0000-0003-0758-6502 Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, Lorestan University, 6815144316 Khorramabad, Iran. g. sayyadzadeh 92 @ gmail. com; https: // orcid. org / 0000 - 0003 - 0758 - 6502 g.sayyadzadeh92@gmail.com Author Esmaeili, Hamid Reza 0000-0002-9736-397X Ichthyology and Molecular Systematics Research Laboratory, Zoology Section, Department of Biology, School of Science, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran. hresmaeili @ shirazu. ac. ir; https: // orcid. org / 0000 - 0002 - 9736 - 397 X * Corresponding authors & Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, Lorestan University, 6815144316 Khorramabad, Iran. g. sayyadzadeh 92 @ gmail. com; https: // orcid. org / 0000 - 0003 - 0758 - 6502 hresmaeili@shirazu.ac.ir text Zootaxa 2024 2024-01-17 5402 1 1 99 http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5402.1.1 journal article 10.11646/zootaxa.5402.1.1 1175-5334 10524097 F8A2EFAB-C50C-400B-AE24-0684EF47F39D 29. Sabanejewia caspia (Eichwald, 1838) Common name. Caspian spined loach Taxonomy. Original description: Cobitis caspia Eichwald, 1838: 133 [Caspian Sea at Lenkoran , Azerbaidjan ; No types known] . Revisions. See Sayyadzadeh et al. (2018a) . Illustrations. Sayyadzadeh et al. (2018a: 284-289 , figs. 9-14). Distribution in Iran . —Distribution in River Basin: Caspian Sea.—Distribution in Ecoregions: 434-Kura-South Caspian Drainages. Status in Iran . [Native].—Roftgar mahi-e khazar.—Listed in previous checklists from Iran by Esmaeili et al . (2017 a , 2018); Jouladeh-Roudbar et al. (2020) and Eagderi et al. (2022) ; recorded by Sayyadzadeh et al. (2018a) .— Iran material: ZM-CBSU. Conservation. —IUCN: NE. Remarks. For a long time, the Iranian spined loaches of the genus Sabanejewia have been classified into three species, S . aurata , S . caspia , and S . caucasica (Esmaeili et al. 2010, 2014, 2017, 2018; Jouladeh-Roudbar et al. 2015 ) but presence of S . caucasica ( Sayyadzadeh et al. 2018a: 288 , fig. 16) in Iran was under question. It is morphologically similar to S . caspia than to S . aurata and is distinguished from S . caspia by having marbled pigmentation along flank not forming a streak (vs. a narrow continuous dark brown streak along flank in S . caspia ); dark blotches on dorsum often fused (vs. no large dorsal blotches in S . caspia ); branches of suborbital spine the same size (vs. the anterior one much shorter than posterior in S . caspia ) ( Kottelat & Freyhof 2007 ). Sayyadzadeh et al. (2018a) failed to find any spined loach in the examined materials as S . caucasica , so the data (morphologically and genetically) confirmed presence of only two Sabanejewia species in the Iranian drainage of the Caspian Sea basin.