Published November 12, 2025 | Version v1
Taxonomic treatment Open

Oxynoemacheilus leontinae

Description

Oxynoemacheilus leontinae

Common name. Tiberias loach.

Diagnosis. Distinguished from other species of Oxynoemacheilus in southern Levant by: ○ flank scaleless or with few isolated scales / ○ caudal very slightly emarginate or truncate / ○ lateral line terminating about at vertical of dorsal origin / ○ without prominent dorsal crest on caudal peduncle or with short crest on posterior caudal peduncle / ○ suborbital groove absent in male / ○ body depth at dorsal origin 16–20 % SL / ○ 8½-9½ branched dorsal rays / ○ flank with a series of irregularly shaped bars or large, roundish or vertically elongate blotches. Size up to 64 mm SL.

Distribution. Israel: Lake Hula and Tiberias basins.

Habitat. Lakeshores and small tributaries.

Biology. No data.

Conservation status. EN; appears to be declining within its very small range. Extirpated from Hula and now restricted to Tiberias basin.

Remarks. Often identified as O. galilaeus or O. panthera.

Further reading. Lortet 1883 (description); Krupp 1985 d, Krupp & Schneider 1989 (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 page 518, DOI: 10.1515/9783111677811, http://zenodo.org/record/17881367

Files

Files (2.2 kB)

Name Size Download all
md5:e06c84beb7ff1261d6f931ef108517da
2.2 kB Download

System files (9.1 kB)

Name Size Download all
md5:d2412c3e055ac316b2fe57bd44a03147
9.1 kB Download

Linked records

Additional details

References

  • Lortet, L. 1883. Etudes zoologiques sur la faune du lac de Tiberiade, suivies d'un apercu sur la faune des lacs d'Antioche et de Homs. I. Poissons et reptiles du lac de Tiberiade et de quelques autres parties de la Syrie. Archives du Museum d'Histoire Naturelle de Lyon 3: 99-189.
  • Krupp, F. 1985 d. Systematik und Zoogeographie der Susswasserfische des levantinischen Grabenbruchsystems und der Ostkuste des Mittelmeeres, Dissertation Doktor der Naturwissenschaften, Mainz: Johannes Gutenberg-Univ. Mainz.
  • Clayton, D. A. & J. M. Wright. 1989. Mud-walled territories and feeding behaviour of Boleophthalmus boddarti (Pisces: Gobiidae) on the mudflats of Kuwait. Journal of Ethology 7: 91-95. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02350029