Iran. J. Ichthyol. (December 2015), 2(4): 227-234 Received: September 09, 2015 © 2015 Iranian Society of Ichthyology Accepted: October 11, 2015 P-ISSN: 2383-1561; E-ISSN: 2383-0964 doi: http://www.ijichthyol.org Review Article Native fish biodiversity in Afghanistan Brian W. COAD Canadian Museum of Nature, Ottawa, Ontario, K1P 6P4 Canada. Email: [email protected] Abstract: The land-locked country of Afghanistan has a restricted but relatively diverse ichthyofauna comprising 85 species in 10 families. The fauna is dominated by Cyprinidae (50 species) and other Ostariophysans (28 species). Eight species are endemics to Afghanistan within its political boundaries. There are three principal drainage basins: the endorheic Amu Darya draining to the Aral Sea with 29 species, the endorheic Helmand River basin draining to the Sistan terminal lakes on the Iranian border with 22 species, and the Kabul River basin draining to the Indus River with 44 species. Keywords: Biodiversity, Afghanistan, Distribution. Introduction Checklist of native fishes of Afghanistan (species Afghanistan lies in Central Asia and is land-locked. marked with an octothorpe (#) are Afghan endemics) Its area is 652,000 sq km compared with Iran at 1. Acipenseridae (3) 1,648,195 sq km which has access to the sea in the Acipenser nudiventris Lovetzky, 1828 Persian Gulf and Sea of Oman, and the now Pseudoscaphirhynchus hermanni (Kessler, 1877) endorheic Caspian Sea. The Afghan ichthyofauna has Pseudoscaphirhynchus kaufmanni (Kessler, 1877) not been well-studied and is probably more diverse 2. Cyprinidae (50) than indicated here (Kottelat & Whitten 1996). Alburnoides holciki Coad and Bogutskaya, 2012 The ichthyofauna is relatively diverse for a Alburnoides taeniatus (Kessler, 1874) country isolated from the sea with large portions of Amblypharyngodon mola (Hamilton, 1822) its land mass being desert. The central spine of the Aspiolucius esocinus (Kessler, 1874) Hindu Kush Mountains forms a divide between the Bangana dero (Hamilton, 1822) southern and northern faunas with differing origins Barbodes sarana (Hamilton, 1822) as well as harbouring a fauna of its own. Elements Barilius pakistanicus Mirza and Sadiq, 1978 from Southwest Asia also enter into the mix. Cabdio jaya (Hamilton, 1822) The native fauna comprises 3 sturgeon species Cabdio morar (Hamilton, 1822) (Acipenseridae), 50 carps and minnows Capoeta heratensis (Keyserling, 1861) (Cyprinidae), 1 spiny loach (Cobitidae) (Fig. 1), 16 Capoetobrama kuschakewitschi (Kessler, 1872) hillstream loaches (Nemacheilidae), 4 sisorid Cirrhinus reba (Hamilton, 1822) catfishes (Sisoridae), 4 sheatfishes (Siluridae), 3 Cyprinion watsoni (Day, 1872) bagrid catfishes (Bagridae), 1 trout (Salmonidae) Cyprinus carpio Linnaeus, 1758 (Fig. 2), 1 spiny eel (Mastacembelidae) and 2 Devario devario (Hamilton, 1822) snakeheads (Channidae). Esomus danricus (Hamilton, 1822) 227 Iranian Journal of Ichthyology (December 2015), 2(4): 227-234 Fig.1. Sabanjewia aralensis (Family Cobitidae), Amu Darya basin. Fig.2. Salmo oxianus (Family Salmonidae), Amu Darya basin Garra gotyla (Gray, 1830) Schizocypris altidorsalis Bianco and Banarescu, Garra rossica (Nikol'skiy, 1900) 1982 Garra wanae (Regan, 1914) Schizocypris brucei Regan, 1914 Gobio lepidolaemus Kessler, 1872 Schizopygopsis stolickai Steindachner, 1866 Gonorhynchus adiscus (Annandale, 1919) Schizothorax edeniana McClelland, 1842 # Gonorhynchus diplochilus (Heckel, 1838) Schizothorax esocinus Heckel, 1838 Labeo angra (Hamilton, 1822) Schizothorax gobioides (McClelland, 1842) # Labeo dyocheilus (McClelland, 1839) Schizothorax intermedius McClelland, 1842 Labeo gonius (Hamilton, 1822) Schizothorax labiatus (McClelland, 1842) Labeo pangusia (Hamilton, 1822) Schizothorax microcephalus Day, 1877 Leuciscus aspius (Linnaeus, 1758) Schizothorax pelzami Kessler, 1870 Leuciscus latus (Keyserling, 1861) Schizothorax plagiostomus Heckel, 1838 Leuciscus lehmanni Brandt, 1852 Schizothorax zarudnyi (Nikol'skiy, 1897) Luciobarbus brachycephalus (Kessler, 1872) Tor macrolepis (Heckel, 1838) Luciobarbus capito (Güldenstädt, 1773) 3. Cobitidae (1) Pelecus cultratus (Linnaeus, 1758) Sabanejewia aralensis (De Filippi, 1863) Puntius conchonius (Hamilton, 1822) 4. Nemacheilidae (16) Puntius sophore (Hamilton, 1822) Dzihunia amudarjensis (Rass, 1929) Puntius terio (Hamilton, 1822) Oxynoemacheilus oxianus (Kessler, 1877) Rutilus rutilus (Linnaeus, 1758) Paracobitis ghazniensis (Bănărescu and Nalbant, Salmophasia bacaila (Hamilton, 1822) 1967) # 228 Coad-Native fish biodiversity in Afghanistan Fig.3. Alburnoides holciki (Family Cyprinidae), Hari River basin. Paracobitis longicauda (Kessler, 1872) Channa gachua (Hamilton, 1822) Paracobitis rhadinaea (Regan, 1906) Channa punctata (Bloch, 1793) Paracobitis vignai Nalbant and Bianco, 1998 In comparison with Iran (Esmaeili et al. 2010), Paraschistura alta (Nalbant and Bianco, 1998) # notably absent families are those of marine origin or Paraschistura cristata (Berg, 1898) (see Freyhof et al. migration such as Petromyzontidae, Carcharhinidae, 2015) Clupeidae, Chanidae, Lotidae, Mugilidae, Paraschistura kessleri (Günther, 1889) Atherinidae, Gasterosteidae, Syngnathidae, Sparidae Paraschistura lindbergi (Banarescu and Mirza, 1965) and Gobiidae, as well as certain freshwater families Paraschistura punjabensis (Hora, 1923) such as Esocidae, Cyprinodontidae, Percidae and Triplophysa brahui (Zugmayer, 1912) Cichlidae. All the Afghan families also have Triplophysa farwelli (Hora 1935) # representatives in Iran but significant differences Triplophysa griffithii (Günther, 1868) occur at the genus and species level in the more Triplophysa kullmanni Banarescu, Nalbant and speciose families. Ladiges, 1975 # The Iranian fauna has well over 200 native Triplophysa stolickai (Steindachner, 1866) species compared to the 85 native species known in 5. Sisoridae (4) Afghanistan. Shared species are found mostly in Glyptosternon akhtari (Silas, 1952) # eastern Iran and include 28 species or 32.9% of the Glyptosternon reticulatum McClelland, 1842 fauna (B= Baluchestan (8 species), C = Caspian Sea Glyptothorax cavia (Hamilton, 1822) (7), H = Hari River (10), S = Sistan (10)):- Glyptothorax jalalensis Balon and Hensel, 1970 # Acipenser nudiventris (C) (Acipenseridae), 6. Siluridae (4) Alburnoides holciki (H) (Fig. 3), Bangana dero (B), Ompok bimaculatus (Bloch, 1794) Cabdio morar (B), Capoeta heratensis (H), Ompok pabda (Hamilton, 1822) Gonorhynchus adiscus (S), G. diplochilus (B), Silurus glanis Linnaeus, 1758 Cyprinion watsoni (B, S), Cyprinus carpio (C, H), Wallago attu (Bloch and Schneider, 1801) Garra rossica (B, H, S), Gobio lepidolaemus (H), 7. Bagridae (3) Leuciscus aspius (C), L. latus (H), Luciobarbus Mystus tengara (Hamilton, 1822) brachycephalus (C), Lu. capito (C), Pelecus cultratus Rita macracanthus Ng, 2004 (C), Schizocypris altidorsalis (S), Schizopygopsis Sperata seenghala (Sykes, 1839) stolickai (S) (Fig. 4), S. intermedius (S), S. pelzami 8. Salmonidae (1) (H), S. zarudnyi (S) (Cyprinidae), Paracobitis Salmo oxianus Kessler, 1874 longicauda (H), P. rhadinaea (S), Paraschistura 9. Mastacembelidae (1) cristata (H), P. kessleri (B, H, S), Triplophysa Mastacembelus armatus (Lacepède, 1800) stolickai (S) (Nemacheilidae), Silurus glanis (C) 10. Channidae (2) (Siluridae) and Channa gachua (B) (Channidae). 229 Iranian Journal of Ichthyology (December 2015), 2(4): 227-234 Fig.4. Schizopygopsis stolickai (Family Cyprinidae), Amu Darya and Helmand River basins. Fig.5. Drainage basins in Afghanistan. There are three principal drainage basins: the to the Indus River and remotely to the Arabian Sea endorheic Amu Darya draining to the Aral Sea with (Fig. 5). historic tributaries now isolated (Murgab and The Kabul River basin has the richest fauna with Tedzhen or Hari), the endorheic Helmand River 44 species (51.8%), being part of the diverse Indus basin draining to the Sistan terminal lakes on the River fauna of the Oriental region. It is probable that Iranian border, and the Kabul River basin and the fauna is even more diverse as it is poorly neighbouring basins (Chamkani-Kurram, Pishin investigated and about 50 other species occur in this Lora and Zhob-Gowmal) draining (now or formerly) drainage in neighbouring Pakistan. The only 230 Coad-Native fish biodiversity in Afghanistan Fig.6. Barbodes sarana (Family Cyprinidae), Kabul River basin. Fig.7. Mystus tengara (Family Bagridae), Kabul River basin. endemics are Schizothorax edeniana and Gonorhynchus, Labeo, Puntius, Salmophasia, Tor Glyptothorax jalalensis, species which have not been (Cyprinidae), Mystus (Fig. 7), Ompok, Wallago (Fig. re-examined in detail since their original 8), Rita, Sperata (Fig. 9) (Siluriformes) descriptions. There is a High Asian element in this Mastacembelus (Fig. 10) and Channa (Fig. 11). basin, with such genera as Schizothorax, Triplophysa The second most diverse basin is the Amu Darya and Glyptosternon, but the majority of species belong with 29 species (34.1%). This is part of an internal to the Oriental or South Asian fauna, such as basin (the Aral Sea) in the centre of a landmass but Amblypharyngodon, Bangana, Barbodes (Fig. 6) was once connected to more speciose basins and Barilius, Cabdio, Cirrhinus, Devario, Esomus, marine waters to the west yet has been isolated long 231 Iranian Journal of Ichthyology (December 2015), 2(4): 227-234 Fig.8. Wallago attu (Family Siluridae), Kabul River basin. Fig.9. Sperata seenghala (Family Bagridae), Kabul River basin. Fig.10. Mastacembelus armatus (Family Mastacembelidae),