Published November 12, 2025 | Version v1
Taxonomic treatment Open

Garra kemali

Description

Garra kemali

Common name. Tuz golden barb.

Diagnosis. Distinguished from other species of Garra in Central Anatolia, Mediterranean, and Dead Sea basins by: ○ no barbels / ○ gular disc incomplete / ○ 9−15 gill rakers / ○ few papillae on mental pad / ○ 36−45+1–2 scales in lateral series / ○ lateral line incomplete, with 5−14 pored scales. Size up to 74 mm SL.

Distribution. Türkiye: Ereğli marshes and Lake Meyil in Lake Tuz basin. Lakes Beyşehir and Seydişehir basins, including Çarşamba Canal. Also, in Hirfanlı reservoir (Kızılırmak).

Habitat. Densely vegetated springs, lakes, reservoirs, and slow-flowing streams.

Biology. Matures within a year. Males with bright golden nuptial colouration. Spawns on vegetation. Comes close to shore in spring but stays deep and far from shore in Hirfanlı reservoir in late summer and winter.

Conservation status. VU; occurs in less than 10 populations. Extirpated from Ereğli marshes due to draining of wetland. Other populations in decline.

Remarks. Very abundant when discovered in Hirfanlı reservoir in 2017. Despite regular monitoring efforts, not seen again until 2024, when it was found again. Previously placed in Hemigrammocapoeta.

Further reading. Hankó 1925 (description); Geiger et al. 2014 (molecular phylogeny, placement in Garra); Behrens-Chapuis et al. 2015 (molecular phylogeny); Küçük et al. 2015 (morphology, in Hemigrammocapoeta); Yoğurtçuoğlu et al. 2018a (distribution).

Notes

Published as part of Freyhof, Jörg, Yoğurtçuoğlu, Baran, Jouladeh-Roudbar, Arash & Kaya, Cüneyt, 2025, Handbook of Freshwater Fishes of West Asia, GmbH, Berlin / Boston :De Gruyter on pages 196-197, DOI: 10.1515/9783111677811, http://zenodo.org/record/17881367

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Linked records

Additional details

Biodiversity

References

  • Hanko, B. 1925. Fische aus Klein-Asien. Annales Historico-Naturales Musei Nationalis Hungarici 21: 137-158, 3 pls.
  • Geiger, M., F. Herder, M. T. Manahan, V. Almada, R. Barbieri, J. Bohlen, M. Casal-Lopez, G. B. Delmastro, G. P. Denys, A. Dettai, I. Doadrio, E. Kalogianni, H. Karst, M. KovaCiC, M. Laporte, M. Ozulug, A. Perdices, S. Perea, H. Persat, S. Porcelotti, C. Puzzi, J. Robalo, R. Sanda, M. Schneider, V. Slechtova, M. Stoumboudi, S. Walter & J. Freyhof. 2014. Spatial heterogeneity in the Mediterranean biodiversity hotspot affects barcoding accuracy of its freshwater fishes. Molecular Ecology Resources 14: 1210-1221. https://doi.org/10.1111/1755-0998.12257
  • Behrens-Chapuis, S., F. Herder, H. R. Esmaeili, J. Freyhof, N. A. Hamidan, M. Ozulug, R. Sanda & M. F. Geiger. 2015. Adding nuclear rhodopsin data where mitochondrial COI indicates discrepancies - can this marker help to explain conflicts in cyprinids? DNA Barcodes 3: 187-199. https://doi.org/10.1515/dna-2015-0020
  • Kucuk, F., E. Baycelebi, S. S. Guclu & I. Gulle. 2015 Description of a new species of Hemigrammocapoeta (Teleostei: Cyprinidae) from Lake Isikli, Turkey. Zootaxa 4052: 359-365. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4052.3.5
  • Yogurtcuoglu, B., F. G. Ekmekci, Y. Bektas, I. Aksu & D. Turan. 2018 a. The first record of Garra kemali (Teleostei: Cyprinidae) from the Black Sea basin with a re-description of the species. Ichthyological Exploration of Freshwaters 28: 281-288.