A new population record and habitat assessment of the endemic fish species Pseudophoxinus battalgilae (Teleostei: Leuciscidae) from Central Anatolia

Abstract

Objective: Pseudophoxinus battalgilae is one of two species with the widest distribution of the genus in the Central and Southern Anatolia (Manavgat River) regions, the other being Pseudophoxinus firati. The species description was made based on samples from the Beyşehir Lake basin. Records are found from Suğla Lake (Seydişehir); the Akgöl (Ereğli) drainage canals; and the Zengen (Ereğli) and Ilgın (springs and small streams flowing into Çavuşçu Lake); the Kızılca, Akkaya, and Gümüşler reservoirs (Niğde), and the Manavgat River basin. This study attempts to identify new recorded localities of P. battalgilae and determines their general distribution areas. In parallel with this, an attempt has been made to evaluate the current state of the species’ habitats. Materials and Methods: Pseudophoxinus battalgilae specimens were caught from Gödet Stream (Karaman) with an electrical shock device, with most being released back into the habitat. The metric and meristic characters of the samples were determined. A maximum likelihood phylogenetic tree was created with closely related species and a haplotype network analysis was applied. Results: The study records the species to have also spread to the Gödet Stream in the Central Anatolia region, thus contributing to identifying the population number and distribution area of the species. The maximum genetic distance of the P. battalgilae populations was determined as 0.0061 between Gödet Stream and the Aşıklar (Ereğli) canal populations. In addition to the phylogenetic analysis, the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST) results confirm the Gödet Stream population to belong to the P. battalgilae species. Conclusion: As a result, the evaluations in the study show a total of eight populations of the species to have been found. However, many populations of the species are expected to disappear in a short time due to drought and to domestic and agricultural pollution.

Keywords

• Central Anatolia
• endemic
• habitat loss
• biodiversity

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