Carassius gibelio (Bloch, 1782) [I]—Gibel carp

Taxonomy. Original description: Cyprinus gibelio Bloch, 1782: 71, Pl. 12 [Olsche River pond, Odra River system, near Czech Teschen, 49°47’11”N, 18°35’24”E, Czech Republic; neotype: ZMB 33979].— Iraq synonyms: None.—Revisions: None.—Illustration: Jawad et al. (2012).

Status in Iraq. First record from Iraq by Jawad et al. (2012); confirmed by Al-Faisal et al. (2014).—Iraq materials: None.

Distribution and habitat. Distribution in Iraq: Tigris and Euphrates River basins.—General distribution: Eurasia: Eastern Europe, Russia to northeastern China; introduced elsewhere.—Habitat: This species inhabits rivers, lakes, reservoirs, ponds, and ditches with stagnant or slow-flowing water. It occurs in eutrophic fresh and brackish waters, well-vegetated ponds, and canals. Freshwater, brackish.

Economic importance. Commercially important.

Reasons of introduction. Unknown: Inadvertently introduced by transboundary waterways for no known reason or method.

Conservation. Not relevant (introduced species).