Paraschistura ilamensis, a new species of loach from the Tigris River drainage (Teleostei: Nemacheilidae)

Paraschistura ilamensis, new species, is described from the Tigris River drainage, Iran. It is distinguished from other species of Paraschistura in Iran by a combination of the following characters: emarginate caudal fin, stout, deep and scaled body, deep caudal peduncle, 7-10 irregular and interrupted vertical pale brown bars on flanks, two obvious dark spots on the upper and lower caudal fin unbranched rays, and moveable protuberance at the antero-ventral corner of the eye in males

Prevalence of fish lice, Argulus (Crustacea: Branchiura) in freshwater and two ornamental fishes of Iran

Farming and trading of aquarium fish has been considered a popular pastime in the world. Most of Iran's aquarium fish are imported from Asian countries including Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. Fish lice (Argulus) is known as one of the most important and common ectoparasites in ornamental fish. Reports indicate that these parasites have been observed in ornamental fish imported to Iran (e.g goldfish Carassius auratus and koi carp Cyprinus carpio). Today, due to mismanagement of some ornamental fish breeding centres in Iran, aquarium fish species such as goldfish may have escaped into the natural waters which increase the risk of transmitting pathogens to native fish. The present work was performed to investigate the outbreak of an ectoparasite Argulus in two ornamental fish of Iran and also to evaluate the possibility of transmission of Argulus to inland freshwater fishes of Iran

Using kriging and co-kriging to predict distributional areas of Kilka species (Clupeonella spp.) in the southern Caspian Sea

Understanding ecological and anthropogenic drivers of fish population dynamics and achieving a sustainable yield requires detailed studies on habitat selection and spatial distribution. The objective of this study was to predict spatial density and distribution of kilka species in the southern Caspian sea in relation to satellite-derived sea surface temperature, chlorophyll-a concentration, turbidity and water depths  using ordinary kriging and co-kriging  geostatistical methods and introduction an appropriate potential fishing area according to the present fishing points. Three hundred and fifty fishing surveys were done in two main kilka fishing ports in the southern Caspian Sea (Anzali and Babolsar ports) from 2015 to 2016. The Geostatistical analysis showed that the co-kriging spatial interpolation method provided the best prediction of fish abundance when chlorophyll-a content was included in model

Oxynoemacheilus veyseli, a new nemacheilid species from the upper aras river drainage of Turkey (Teleostei: Nemacheilidae)

A new species of nemacheilid fish, Oxynoemacheilus veyseli sp. n., is described from the upper Aras River drainage, Kars Province, Turkey. The species differs from its congeners in the Caspian Sea basin in the combination of the following characters: flank with a set of mid-lateral elongated, irregular-shaped dark brown blotches, sometimes fused, interrupted by lateral line; dorsum with three or four separated dark-brown roundish to elongated blotches predorsally and postdorsally; a deep and marked suborbital groove and many small unculi on rays of pectoral and dorsal-fin in male; small eye diameter (9.6-13.7 %HL); a short dorsal-fin base (10.1-13.3 %SL); 3-4 lateral and 3 central pores in supratemporal canal; deep body and caudal peduncle (17.3-19.4 and 10.2-11.4 %SL, respectively) and slightly emarginated caudal fin

Oxynoemacheilus ciceki, new nemacheilid species (Teleostei, Nemacheilidae) from the Sultan Marsh, Kayseri Province, Turkey

A new species of nemacheilid fish, Oxynoemacheilus ciceki sp. n. is described from the Sultan Marsh, Kayseri Province, Turkey. The species differs from its congeners in the combination of the following characters: flank yellowish brown or pale gray with irregular spot; cheeks with numerous tiny spots; lacking scale; thinner caudal peduncle; complete lateral line; 4 central and 4 lateral pores in the supra-temporal canal; lower lip thick with a deep median interruption and marked furrows and small median incision in upper lip

Modelling the time series of capture fishery and aquacultural production in Iran

The trend of capture fishery and aquaculture production in Iran shows an ascending trend. An estimate of future production may be useful for management purposes and providing some clues about the effectiveness of the current plans to reach the goals. We used the data provided by the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nation (FAO) to model the time series of the production of aquatics in both sectors. The data covered the years 1980-2018. We predicted the production of aquatics until 2025 using autoregressive integrated moving average models. Several techniques were used to estimate the parameters of the model. However, searching the all possible values of the parameters provided the model with the best predictability. According to the selected model, the production of capture fishery will have ascending trends and increase to 1,513,533 tons in 2025. Aquaculture production will also have an increasing trend, however, the rate of change will be lower than that of the capture fishery. Aquaculture production will reach to 552944 tons in 2025. The forecast is based on the assumption that the rate of changes in the development of capture fishery and aquaculture will remain in the present status. Sudden changes in management practice or environmental conditions may have a remarkable influence on future production

Habitat-associated morphological divergence in four Shemaya, Alburnus chalcoides (Actinopterygii: Cyprinidae) populations in the southern Caspian Sea using geometric morphometrics analysis

In this study, Geometric morphometrics approach was used to explore body shape variations and growth trajectory among four population of Shemaya (Alburnus chalcoides). The shape of 114 individuals from three rivers (Lisar, Shiroud and Babolroud) and one lagoon (Anzali) from the south of Caspian Sea was extracted by recording the 2-D coordinates of 16 landmark points. We applied a GPA analysis to eliminate non-shape variations. PCA, CVA, MANOVA analysis were used to examine shape differences among populations. The significant differences found among the shape of populations. Since Shemaya is an anaderemus fish and all their populations have a common origin, we concluded that differences between habitat features might create selective pressures resulting morphological divergence among conspecific populations. We suggest that high level of plasticity, particularly in the depth of body, head and caudal peduncle shape may reflect low costs of maintaining the plastic response even in relatively isolated populations

The Life Story of TGFβs superfamily: from the beginning to the end

TGFβ-superfamily consists a plethora of extracellular growth factors, modulating developmental procedures and homeostasis in vertebrates and invertebrates. TGFβ-superfamily ligands, synthesized as the large inactive precursors, transform into active ligands following by their interaction with extracellular proteolytic enzymes. Principally, TGFβs ligation to their responsive receptors can trigger two distinct transduction cascades, including 1- SMAD dependent or canonical pathway and 2- SMAD independent or non-canonical ones. R-SMADs are substrates for the type I receptors, as their GS domains act as a docking site for R-SMADs. In the canocical pathway, upon phosphorylation of SSXS of MH2, two phosphorylated-SMADs (P-SMADs) in accordance with receptor tetra-dimerization, homo or heterodimerize and then form a trimer complex by SMAD4. The trimers translocate to the nucleus, where in association with other transcription factors (activators and repressors) modulate their target genes expression. The purpose of this review is to provide a comprehensive information about these cascades and their downstream effectors with an emphasis on the canonical one

Fishes of Guilan, By Abbasi Ranjbar K. 2017. 206 p. Iliya Culture Publication, Rasht, ISBN: 978-964-190-517-2.

The Caspian Sea basin is one of the most important inland water basin of Iran having the most diverse inland water fishes. The present study aimed to review the book entitled "Fish of Guilan'' by Keyvan Abbasi Ranjbar published in 2017. This book provides general and biological information of the reported fishes in Guilan Province that can be used as a reference and identification key by fishermen and researchers who are involved in aquaculture, fisheries and biology

Fluoxetine alters reproductive performance of female fighting fish, Betta splendens

This study was aimed to investigate the effects of waterborne fluoxetine on the reproduction performance of female fighting fish (Betta splendens). For this purpose, mature, ready for spawning females were exposed to concentrations of 0, 0.54 and 54.0 µg/l fluoxetine for 7 days. Then they were introduced into the spawning tank containing pre-acclimated male and reproductive consequences including number of copulations per spawning, number of eggs per copulation, duration of spawning, fecundity and hatching rate were assessed. Fluoxetine concentration of 54.0 µg/l, was significantly affected on the number of produced eggs per copulation, fecundity and hatching rate. In addition, the mean number of copulations per spawning was not different between treatments but significantly different for the spawning duration between control and 54.0 µg/l treatments. The results suggest that fluoxetine can impacts on reproductive performance of female fighting fish at concentrations greater than those found in the aquatic environments