Alburnus atropatenae

Common name. Urmia bleak.

Diagnosis. Distinguished from other species of Alburnus in Caspian and Lake Urmia basins by: ○ 10–15 gill rakers / ○ 9–12½ branched anal rays / ○ 43–60+3 lateral line scales / ○ a bold, dark-brown mid-lateral stripe / ○ ventral keel exposed for 1–4 scales in front of anus / ○ usually 8½ branched dorsal rays. Size up to 130 mm SL.

Distribution . Iran and Türkiye: Lake Urmia basin. In uppermost Choman (Tigris drainage) directly at watershed to Saqez (Urmia).

Habitat. A wide range of moderately fast-flowing streams and rivers with gravel substrate.

Biology. Feeds on aquatic invertebrates.

Conservation status. LC.

Remarks. Populations from Lake Namak basin were listed as this species but were later identified as A. doriae . Both species are superficially similar but do not appear to be closely related. Recently, it has been considered a synonym of A. ulanus, as both species share the same COI DNA sequence. As both species are well differentiated morphologically, introgressive hybridisation is likely to have occurred.

Further reading. Coad & Holčík 1999 (morphology); Ghasemi et al. 2015 (distribution); Jouladeh-Roudbar et al. 2020 (as A. ulanus); Kaya 2020b (record from Türkiye); Coad 2021b (biology, distribution).