Taxonomic revision of the genus Carasobarbus Karaman, 1971 (Actinopterygii, Cyprinidae)
Author
Borkenhagen, Kai
Author
Krupp, Friedhelm
text
ZooKeys
2013
339
1
53
http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.339.4903
journal article
http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.339.4903
1313-2970-339-1
Carasobarbus
sublimus (Coad & Najafpour, 1997)
Barbus sublimus
Coad and Najafpour 1997
: 274.
Material.
Type material. Holotype of
Barbus sublimus
: CMNFI 1995-0009, Iran,
Rūdkhaneh-ye
A'la
near Pol-e
Tīghen
(
31°23'30"N
,
49°53'0"E
), B. W. Coad et al., 20 Sep 1995, not examined.
Paratypes of
Barbus sublimus
: CMNFI 95-0009a, 1, same data as holotype. - CMNFI 95-0010, 1, same data as holotype, not examined. - CMNFI 95-0011, 3, Iran,
Rūdkhaneh-ye
A'la
near Pol-e
Tīghen
(
31°23'30"N
,
49°53'0"E
), G. Eskanderi, Dec 1994, only one specimen examined.
Non-type material.
Rūdkhaneh-ye
Kashgan
. CMNFI 79-0277, 1, Iran,
Rūdkhaneh-ye
Kashgan
at Harpul Kashkow, 50 km from
Khorramabad
(
33°30'0"N
,
47°59'30"E
), K. Evans and H. Assadi, 5 Jul 1977.
Rūdkhaneh-ye
Zohreh drainage. ZM-CBSU 5781-5786, 6, Iran,
Rūdkhaneh-ye
Fahlīan
at
Nūrabad
[
30°6'51"N
,
51°31'18"E
], H. R. Esmaeili et al. - SMF 33117, 3, Iran,
Rūdkhaneh-ye
Fahlīan
(
30°11'10"N
,
51°31'14"E
), K. Borkenhagen et al., 29 Nov 2007. - SMF 33118, 6, Iran,
Rūdkhaneh-ye
Fahlīan
(
30°11'9"N
,
51°31'15"E
), N. Alwan et al., 29 Feb 2008.
Diagnosis.
Two pairs of barbels; 27 to 29 scales in the lateral line, 12 scales around the least circumference of the caudal peduncle; last unbranched dorsal-fin ray about as long as the head; mouth narrow, lower jaw spatulate and median lobe present on lower lip.
Description.
A nuchal hump is not developed. The maximum body depth is at the anterior end of the dorsal fin base. The ventral profile of the head is almost straight; the dorsal profile is convex and evenly curved (Figs 26, 27). The maximum body depth is greater than the head length (Fig. 12). The mouth is inferior, narrow, the lips are thick and the lower jaw is spatulate with a horny sheath and a median lobe on the lower lip. The two pairs of barbels (Table 2) are well developed. The eyes are at the posterior end of the anterior half of the head. Some morphometric characters are summarised in Table 1.
Figure 26.
Carasobarbus sublimus
, paratype (CMNFI 95-0011) from
Rūdkhaneh-ye
A'la
, photo S.
Traenkner
.
Figure 27.
Carasobarbus sublimus
, live specimen from
Rūdkhaneh-ye
Fahlīan
.
The dorsal fin usually has four unbranched and nine or 10 branched rays (Table 3). The last unbranched ray of the dorsal fin is weakly ossified and about as long as the head (Fig. 4). The anal fin usually has three unbranched and six branched rays (Table 4) and its base is surrounded by a sheath of scales. Pectoral, ventral and anal fins are longer than in all other
Carasobarbus
species (Table 1).
There are 27 to 29 scales in the lateral line (Table 5), 4.5 or 5.5 scales above the lateral line (Table 6), 3.5 to 5.5 scales below the lateral line (Table 7) and 12 scales around the least circumference of the caudal peduncle (Table 8). The scales are shown in Fig. 5.
The pharyngeal teeth count is 2.3.4-5.3.2, 2.3.4-5.3.1 or 3.3.4-4.3.3 (
Coad and Najafpour 1997
). The pharyngeal bones available were too small for photography but are very similar to those of
Carasobarbus kosswigi
(Fig. 6).
Live specimens from
Rūdkhaneh-ye
Fahlīan
are silvery with hyaline fins (Fig. 27). Live specimens from
Rūdkhaneh-ye
A'la
are silvery with a slightly darker back, the
scales
have dark pigments on their hind margin; pectoral, ventral and anal fins have a yellow to orange hue, which is most obvious with fins folded back; dorsal and caudal fins are grey or hyaline (
Coad and Najafpour 1997
). Ethanol-preserved specimens are yellowish brown with a somewhat darker back and juveniles have a dark spot on the sides of the caudal peduncle.
Carasobarbus sublimus
differs from all congeners, except
Carasobarbus kosswigi
, by having a spatulate lower jaw with a median lobe on the lower lip vs. a crescent shaped lower jaw and a lower lip without median lobe. It differs from
Carasobarbus kosswigi
by having 27 to 29 scales in the lateral line vs. 32 to 38 and modally 12 scales around the least circumference of the caudal peduncle vs. 14 and by having a shorter and less ossified unbranched last dorsal-fin ray.
Distribution.
This species is known from
Rūdkhaneh-ye
A'la
,
Rūdkhaneh-ye
Fahlīan
and possibly
Rūdkhaneh-ye
Kashgan
(see discussion) in south-western Iran (Fig. 7).
Habitats
and biology.
Carasobarbus sublimus
is adapted to streams with fast currents with water flowing over hard substrate (
Coad and Najafpour 1997
). The biggest specimen known has a SL of 115 mm (
Coad and Najafpour 1997
).
Conservation status.
Little is known about the conservation status of
Carasobarbus sublimus
, but because this species is dependent on fast-flowing water, it is probably impacted by the construction of dams.
Discussion.
Carasobarbus sublimus
was described in the genus
Barbus
and aligned with
Carasobarbus apoensis
,
Carasobarbus canis
,
Carasobarbus chantrei
,
Carasobarbus exulatus
,
Carasobarbus kosswigi
and
Carasobarbus luteus
in the original description (
Coad and Najafpour 1997
). Coad recommends the use of the genus
Kosswigobarbus
for this species (
Coad 2011
). It was transferred to
Carasobarbus
, based on morphological characters and close genetic relationship (
Borkenhagen et al. 2011
).
Locality data for CMNFI 79-0277 is not beyond doubt, because this lot was mentioned as
Carasobarbus kosswigi
in the original description of
Carasobarbus sublimus
(
Coad and Najafpour 1997
). According to morphometric and meristic characters (scales in lateral line, above lateral line and around the least circumference of the caudal peduncle; length of dorsal, pectoral, ventral and anal fin) this specimen is within the range of
Carasobarbus sublimus
and outside the range of
Carasobarbus kosswigi
. It might be an aberrant specimen or it might have been accidentally swaped with CMNFI 1995-0010 (a specimen of similar size from the same locality as the types of
Carasobarbus sublimus
). We had no opportunity to examine CMNFI 1995-0010. Though we think it is unlikely that
Carasobarbus kosswigi
and
Carasobarbus sublimus
occur sympatrically, for the time being we consider it to be a possible record of
Carasobarbus sublimus
from the
Rūdkhaneh-ye
Kashgan
.