Nun galilaeus ( Günther, 1864 )

Çiçek, Erdoğan, Fricke, Ronald, Sungur, Sevil, Çapar, Osman Bahadir & Golani, Daniel, 2023, Freshwater fishes of Israel; a revised and updated annotated checklist- 2023, Zootaxa 5369 (4), pp. 451-484 : 455-456

Nun galilaeus ( Günther, 1864) [N]—Galilean loach; Nun ha’hula

Taxonomy. Original description: Cobitis galilaea Günther, 1864: 493 [Lake Tiberias (Galilée), Israel; holotype (unique): BMNH 1863.11.3.8].—Israeli synonyms: Cobitis galilaea Günther, 1864 ; Nemacheilus galilaeus ( Günther, 1864) ; Oxynoemacheilus galilaeus ( Günther, 1864) ; Nun galilaea ( Günther, 1864) .—Revisions: Banarescu et al. (1982: 23), Prokofiev (2009, 2010, 2017: 252).—Illustration: Prokofiev (2017: 254, fig. 68), Freyhof et al. (2012: 304, fig. 1), Freyhof et al. (2020: 231 as Oxynoemacheilus galilaeus ).

Status in Israel. Recorded from Israel in the original description by Günther ( Günther (1865: 490) as Cobitis galilaea , and by Lortet (1883: 173), Tristram (1884: 177) and Steinitz (1953: 214) as Nemachilus galilaeus ; confirmed by Goren & Ortal (1999: 4).—Israel material: BMNH, HUJ.

Distribution and habitat. Distribution in Israel: Jordan River basin (now extinct).—Distribution in River Basin: 2-Dead Sea Basin.—General distribution: Hula Lake, Jordan River basin, Israel, Syria.—Distribution in Ecoregion: 438- Jordan River.—Habitat: This species is a lacustrine species that inhabits lake shores. Freshwater.

Economic importance. No commercial importance.

Conservation. Conservation Status in Israel: EX.—IUCN: CR ( IUCN 2023).—Threats: ABS, CON, CLI, EUT.— High sensitivity to human activities.—Keystone species.—Decline status: Extinct.—High priority for conservation action.

Remarks. Recent molecular findings represent that this species should moved to under genus Oxynoemacheilus ( Geiger et al. 2014) .