Ichthyofauna of darbandikhan lake in Kurdistan Region, Iraq

Abstract EN

In the present study, random samples of fishes were taken by gill net from Darbandikhan Lake, southeast of Sulaimani City, Kurdistan Region, Iraq, to find out the fishes that are naturally found in lake Darbandikhan.

The study was carried out during the period from March to the end of October 2012.

A total of 255 freshwater fishes, belong to 17 species, namely: Arabibarbus grypus, Barbus barbulus, Capoeta trutta, Capoeta umbla, Carasobarbus luteus, Carassius auratus, Chondrostoma regium, Cyprinion macrostomum, Cyprinus carpio, Garra rufa, Hemiculter leucisculus, Hypophthalmichthys molitrix, Luciobarbus esocinus, Squalius lepidus (Family Cyprinidae), Mystus pelusius (Bagridae), Silurus triostegus (Siluridae) and Mastacembelus mastacembelus (Mastacembelidae), were collected from this lake.

The study demonstrated that Capoeta trutta, Cyprinion macrostomum and H.

leucisculus were the most abundant and wide spread in lake Darbandikhan, while M.

pelusius and H.

molitrix were scarce.