Published November 12, 2025 | Version v1
Taxonomic treatment Open

Sabanejewia aurata

Description

Sabanejewia aurata

Common name. Caspian golden loach.

Diagnosis. Distinguished from Sabanejewia caspia by: ● 10–15 large, distinct blotches along lateral midline ● no irregularly shaped band of brown pigments below lateral blotches. Size up to 100 mm SL.

Distribution. Southern Caspian basin: Kura and Aras drainages east to Sefid.

Habitat. Hill streams with clear water and sandy or gravelly bottoms. In moderate current.

Biology. No data.

Conservation status. LC.

Remarks. Occasionally, reported to occur in all rivers of Iranian Caspian basin, but no records east of Sefid was confirmed in last decades. The identity of Hari and Morghab populations is questionable, and these fishes might belong to S. aralensis, a species widespread in Zeravshan, Amu, and Syr Darya in Central Asia.

Further reading. Berg 1949b (description); Sayyadzadeh et al. 2018a (description).

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 page 466, DOI: 10.1515/9783111677811, http://zenodo.org/record/17881367

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Linked records

Additional details

Biodiversity

References

  • Berg, L. S. 1949 b. [Freshwater fishes of the U. S. S. R. and adjacent countries. Izdatelstvo Akademii Nauk SSSR, Moskva & Leningrad 470 - 925. [Israel Program for Scientific Translations, Jerusalem, 1965].
  • Sayyadzadeh, G., A. Abbasi & H. R. Esmaeili. 2018 a. Review and redescription of Sabanejewia species in Iran (Teleostei: Cobitidae). Iranian Journal of Ichthyology 5: 277-292. https://doi.org/10.22034/iji.v5i4.322