Paraphanius mento ( Heckel, 1843 )

Çiçek, Erdoğan, Jawad, Laith, Eagderi, Soheil, Esmaeili, Hamid Reza, Mouludi-Saleh, Atta, Sungur, Sevil & Fricke, Ronald, 2023, Freshwater fishes of Iraq: a revised and updated annotated checklist- 2023, Zootaxa 5357 (1), pp. 1-49 : 31

Paraphanius mento ( Heckel, 1843) [N]—Pearl-spotted killifish

Taxonomy. Original description: Lebias mento Heckel, 1843: 1089 [99] [Mossul, northern Iraq (36°18’N, 43°18’E); Possible syntypes: NMW 21699-704 (6), 59832 (21)].— Iraq synonyms: Aphanius mento ( Heckel, 1843) .— Revisions: Esmaeili et al. (2020).—Illustration: Heckel (1843: pl. 6 (fig. 4)).

Status in Iraq. Recorded from Iraq in original description by Heckel (1843).—Iraq materials: NMW.

Distribution and habitat. Distribution in Iraq: Tigris River basin.—General distribution: Middle East: Tigris River basin (southern Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and Iran).—Habitat: This species inhabits a wide range of springs, streams, lakes, and rivers. Freshwater.

Economic importance. Has potential to be used as aquarium fish.

Conservation. Conservation Status in Iraq: Unknown.—IUCN: LC (IUCN 2023).—Threats: There are many threats in the area, but none seems to be strong enough to threaten this species.—High sensitivity to human activities.—Keystone species.—Decline status: Decreasing.—High priority for conservation action.