Mesopotamian tooth-carp (Aphanius mesopotamicus)

Scientific name: Aphanius mesopotamicus Coad, 2009

Mesopotamian tooth-carp (Aphanius mesopotamicus)

The Mesopotamian tooth-carp (Aphanius mesopotamicus) is a freshwater fish of the family Cyprinodontidae. In the aquarium it needs water at 15–22°C (59–72°F).

Mesopotamian tooth-carp care at a glance

Temperature
15–22°C (59–72°F)

Biology

Dorsal soft rays (total): 11-13; Anal soft rays: 10 - 12. Can be diagnosed by its pigmentation, meristics, and in multivariate morphometric and meristic space: males have clear margins to the unpaired fins, no bars on the caudal fin and have 10-15 clearly defined flank bars. Females possess irregular blotches or spots on the flank. Twelve of 14 meristic characters are significantly different for males and 9 of 13 meristic characters for females, although ranges overlap in all cases. Discriminant function analyses indicate that the variables with the best discriminating power are pectoral fin rays (13-15), scales to pelvic fin (5-7), postorbital length (16% HL) and caudal peduncle length in males; and pectoral fin rays (14-15), scales to pelvic fin (5-8), scales to dorsal fin (4-5), total scales (27-30) and predorsal length in females ( 23% SL).

Source: FishBase, licensed CC BY-NC 4.0.

Species facts

Scientific name
Aphanius mesopotamicus
Family
Cyprinodontidae (Pupfishes)
Order
Cyprinodontiformes (Live bearers, Killifishes and Rivulines)
Class
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned fishes)
Maximum length
2.4
Environment
Freshwater;; pH range: 6.0 - ? benthopelagic
Climate
Subtropical
Distribution
Asia: southern Karkheh River basin of Iran and at Qarmat `Ali in Iraq at the northern part of Basrah on the Shatt al Arab, the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
Conservation status (IUCN)
Not Evaluated
Threat to humans
Harmless
Resilience
Medium, minimum population doubling time 1.4 - 4.4 years (Preliminary K or Fecundity.)

Sources

Taxonomy, distribution and biology data: FishBase (Froese, R. and D. Pauly, eds.), licensed CC BY-NC 4.0.

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