The Long-snout Freshwater Goby Awaous jayakari (Boulenger, 1888) (Teleostei: Gobiidae), an additional fish element for the Iranian waters

Abstract

Members of the genus Awaous are found in fresh and brackish waters and have a circumtropical distribution from Africa to the Americas, with most species being found in the Indo-West Pacific region. Based on the detailed morphology and osteology of a specimen collected in southeastern Iran and comparison with type specimens, the Iranian population of snout goby is taxonomically assigned to Awaous jayakari. This is an additional genus and species for the fish fauna of Iran. A key for the inland and coastal gobies of Iran is provided.

Keywords:

• Taxonomy
• fish diversity
• osteology
• distribution
• Middle East

Acknowledgements

We acknowledge U. Schliewen (Zoological State Collection, Munich, Germany) for providing access to X-ray, B. Reichenbacher (Ludwig Maximilian University) for helping with osteological studies and J. Maclaine (Natural History Museum, London) for photographs of the syntypes. We thank A. Elmi, G. Sayyadzadeh and F. Zarei for their kind help in fish collection in the Sistan & Baluchestan province.