Alburnus caeruleus 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 : 20-21

Alburnus caeruleus Heckel, 1843 [N]—Black spotted bleak

Taxonomy. Original description: Alburnus caeruleus Heckel, 1843: 1084 (94) [Aleppo, Syria; syntypes: NMW 16688 (4), 55511-13 (2, 2, 2), 57161 (3);?RMNH 2656 [ex NMW] (4); SMF 100 [ex NMW] (4)]— Iraq synonyms: Alburnoides recepi Turan, Kaya, Ekmekçi & Doğan, 2014 .—Revisions: None.—Illustrations: Heckel (1843: pl. 11, fig. 3); Zareian et al. (2015: 16, fig. 8).

Status in Iraq. First record from Iraq by Freyhof et al. (2021).—Iraq materials: None.

Distribution and habitat. Distribution in Iraq: Tigris, Euphrates, and Qweik River drainages.—General distribution: Middle East: Tigris, Euphrates, and Qweik River drainages ( Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and Iran).—Habitat: This species occurs in streams, rivers, and lakes with moderate to slow currents. Also inhabits reservoirs. Freshwater.

Economic importance. No commercial importance.

Conservation. Conservation Status in Iraq: Unknown.—IUCN: LC (IUCN 2023).—Threats: There are many threats in the area inhabited by this species but none is so strong to considerably impact the global population of this fish.—Moderate sensitivity to human activities.—Keystone species.—Decline status: Stable.—Low priority for conservation action.