Reviewing the literature dealt with marine fishes of Iraq, which were captured in territorial marine waters of Iraq or brackish, freshwaters and marshes, from 1874 until the mid of 2018 indicated the presence of 322 species belonging to 193 genera, 94 families and 26 orders. Perciformes is the richest order, represented with 183 species (about 56.83% of all fish species), 97 genera and 38 families. Among these, 40 (42.5%) different families are represented with a single species. The Carangidae has the higher number of genera (17) and species (33). Ten out of 26 orders (38.5%) have been represented with single species only. Elasmobranchs are represented with 42 species (23 selachids and 19 batoids). Locally, the sharks (selachids) comprise three orders and eight families, while the skates and the rays (batoids) are represented with seven families and four orders. A total of 193 of confirmed marine species (66 families and 18 orders) were recorded from Shatt AlArab river.

1. Received May 14, 2018, accepted Aug. 10, 2018
Catalogue of Marine Fishes of Iraq
Atheer H. Ali*
, Thamir K. Adday & Najim R. Khamees
2
Department of Fisheries and Marine Resources, College of Agriculture,
University of Basrah, Basrah, Iraq
*Corresponding author: atheeralibu@gmail.com
Abstract: Reviewing the literature dealt with marine fishes of Iraq, which were
captured in territorial marine waters of Iraq or brackish, freshwaters and marshes,
from 1874 until the mid of 2018 indicated the presence of 322 species belonging to
193 genera, 94 families and 26 orders. Perciformes is the richest order, represented
with 183 species (about 56.83% of all fish species), 97 genera and 38 families.
Among these, 40 (42.5%) different families are represented with a single species.
The Carangidae has the higher number of genera (17) and species (33). Ten out of
26 orders (38.5%) have been represented with single species only. Elasmobranchs
are represented with 42 species (23 selachids and 19 batoids). Locally, the sharks
(selachids) comprise three orders and eight families, while the skates and the rays
(batoids) are represented with seven families and four orders. A total of 193 of
confirmed marine species (66 families and 18 orders) were recorded from Shatt Al-
Arab river.
Keywords: Marine fishes, Shatt Al-Arab river, Shatt Al-Basrah canal, checklists, Iraq.
Introduction
Iraq is located in the innermost part of the Arabian Gulf where more than 510 species of
fishes have been reported (Krupp et al., 2015). Species composition varies mostly with
bottom type and with the influence of the Shatt Al-Arab river at the north. Certain species are
much more common near the influence of this extensive estuary. For example, the silver
pomfret (zubaidi, Pampus argenteus) is one of the most prized fishes, where it is frequently
caught. This is also true for other species such as subur, Tenualosa ilisha (Carpenter et al.,
1997). Hilsa shad (subour) catch varied from 4t in February to 95t in April, this respresents
11.44% of the total catch landing correlated negatively with salinity of water (Mohamed &
Qasim, 2014d). Fish diversity in the Arabian Gulf is rather irregular, mainly due to the
depletion of water temperature in winter is irregular too and thus the diversity of individual
species in the Gulf may fluctuate from year to another (Krupp & Müller, 1994). The
importance of coral reef fishes come from the fact that it represent 25% of marine species,
which consist between 4000-5000 fish species (Lieske & Myers, 2001). Recently, the
discovery of the unique coral reef area (28 km2
) in the turbid coastal waters of Iraq will
stimulate the interest of governmental agencies, environmental organizations, as well as of the
international scientific community working on the fundamental understanding of coral marine
ecosystems and global climate today (Pohl et al., 2014), especially all coral-dependent fishes
in the Arabian Gulf were listed at elevated risk of extinction (Buchanan et al., 2016). Coad
(2018) listed only 27 marine species from 15 families and eight orders so far recorded from
Shatt Al-Arab river and the southern marshes. Recently, Mohamed & Abood (2017a) reported
111 species of fishes in Shatt Al-Arab river included 15 fresh water, 13 exotic and 83 marine
fish species. The marine fishes in that study consist from Carangidae (9 species), Sciaenidae
(6 species), Mugilidae (5 species), Sparidae (4 species), Engraulidae, Sillaginidae, Ariidae,
Vol. 2 (2): 298-368, 2018