Identification of fishes in western catchment of Urmia Lake

The aim of this research was to identify the species of freshwater fishes in the waterresources located at western catchment of Urmia Lake in West Azarbaijan Province.In order to cover the diversity of this region, sampling sites were selected across themain and minor branches of rivers Zarineh rud, Simineh rud, Mahabad chay, Shahrchay, Nazlu chay, Baranduz chay and Godar river. Sampling was performedseasonally using different fishing tools including electrofishing and cast net as wellas purchasing from local fishermen. Specimens were fixed into 10 % formalin andtransferred to the laboratory for identification and morphometric studies. Thirty-onefish species belonging to six family comprising of Cyprinidae, Balitoridae, Cobitidae,Siluridae, Poeciliidae and Salmonidae identified. Among them Cyprinid family with25 species had the highest diversity and Balitoridae with two and the rest with onespecies were identified.

Keywords:

West Azarbaijan , Freshwater fishes , Urmieh Lake catchment