Identification of fishes of Zab River in West Azarbaijan Province

Ichthyofaun of aquatic ecosystems play important role due to its ecological value intheir assessment. The Zab River belongs to Tigris basin located in the border of Iran-Iraq and Piranshahr and Sardasht cities. The aim of this research was to identify thespecies of freshwater fishes in the water resources located Zagros catchment area ofWest Azarbaiigan Province. In order to cover the diversity of this region, samplingsites were selected across the main and minor branches of the Zab River includingLavin chay, Avajar chay, Badin abad and Zab Rivers. Sampling was performedseasonally according to standard methods. Fish samples were caught either withdifferent tools including Electroshoker , Cast net or were purchased from localfishermen, fixed in 10 % formalin and transferred to the laboratory foridentification.18 fish species belonging to 4 family comprising of Cyprinidae (13species and sub species), Balitoridae (3 species), Salmonidae and Mastacembelidaeboth with one species have been identified. Cyprinid family with 13 species had thehighest diversity and with except rainbow trout and crucian carp, the other fisheswere endemic.

Keywords:

West Azarbaijan , freshwater fishes , Zab River